The FTC and DOJ sue TikTok for alleged child privacy breaches

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The FTC and DOJ sue TikTok for alleged child privacy breaches

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department are suing TikTok and ByteDance TikTok’s parent company. For breaking the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The law requires platforms to inform and get the consent of parents prior to collecting or together personal information from children who are under 13.

Press Announcement

In an press announcement released on Friday The FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said that TikTok and ByteDance were “allegedly aware” of the necessity to adhere to COPPA however they used “years” in a state of ignorance. Accepting millions of kids under 13 to use their platforms. TikTok did this compatible to the FTC claims. Despite having settled in a settlement with the FTC in 2019 regarding COPPA violations. As a part of that settlement TikTok was required to make payments of $5.7 million and take steps to block children younger than 13 from sign-up.

“As as of 2020, TikTok had a policy that allowed it to keep accounts of children who it suspected were under 13. Unless the child gave an explicit declaration of age. And other strict requirements were satisfied,” the FTC wrote in its press announcement. “TikTok human reviewers are said to have used an average of between five and seven seconds looking over every account in order to make a decision as to whether the account was owned by children.”

The TikTok and ByteDance utilized and stored user data that was not intended for children which included data for ads targeting. Despite the fact that employees raised concerns. TikTok has reportedly altered its policy to not demand the explicit admission that they are over the age of 13, alike to the FTC. In addition, TikTok continued to allow users to sign-up with third-party accounts. Such as Google and Instagram but without verifying that they were older than 13 years old adequate to the FTC notes.

The FTC

The FTC also identified issues regarding TikTok Kids Mode. the TikTok’s claimed to be a more COPPA-compliant mobile user experience. Kids Mode was able to collect “far more information” than was required alike to the FTC claims, and includes information about the activities of users in the app and identifiers TikTok utilized to build user profiles (and shared with third-party companies) in order to avoid attrition.

When parents asked that the accounts of their children be deleted, TikTok made it difficult for them. The FTC claimed, and in many instances didn’t comply with requests.

“TikTok regularly and knowingly did not respect the privacy of children and safety. Risking the lives of millions of kids across the United States,” FTC chair Lina Khan stated in the statement. “The FTC will continue to utilize all of its authority to warrant the safety of children online. Especially when companies use more sophisticated tools for digital use to monitor children and make money from their information.”

TikTok

TikTok shared this information in an email “We do not agree with these assertions, a lot of are based on past events or practices, which may be incorrect or have not been rectified. We are extremely proud of our efforts in protecting children. And will continue to upgrade the platform and increase TikTok’s platform. In this regard we help in providing age-appropriate content with strong security features. Actively eliminate users who are suspected of being underage and have also voluntarily introduced. Features like the default time limits for screen usage Family Pairing, a family-friendly interface, and extra privacy safeguards for children.”

The FTC and Justice Department propose fines for TikTok along with ByteDance. Civil penalties that could reach $51,744 for each violation per day and a long-term injunction to keep from the occurrence of future COPPA violations.

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