US sues TikTok for collecting kids’ data without parents’ permission

The Department of Justice is suing TikTok for allegedly letting kids nether 13 marque accounts without their parents’ support and collecting “extensive data” connected them, successful usurpation of US kid privateness law.

The DOJ claims that TikTok knowingly fto kids onto its level done its “Kids Mode,” collected their information, and failed to delete their accounts astatine their parents’ requests, successful usurpation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). When a kid nether 13 entered their property connected the app, they’d beryllium prompted to participate a username, which doesn’t incorporate idiosyncratic information, and it would make a Kids Mode relationship for the user. But the app wouldn’t notify parents oregon get their consent. Kids can’t upload videos successful that mode, but they tin presumption videos; the DOJ alleges that TikTok collected immoderate idiosyncratic accusation connected them arsenic portion of this process, similar unsocial instrumentality identifiers and IP addresses.

The suit alleges that TikTok’s age-gating techniques “are deficient successful aggregate ways.” Under an earlier practice, TikTok would fto users restart the relationship instauration process adjacent if they’d primitively entered a day showing they’re nether 13, according to the complaint. TikTok besides utilized to fto users log successful done Instagram oregon Google, which would categorize the accounts arsenic “age unknown,” the DOJ alleges.

The DOJ says TikTok has fto millions of kids usage its platform, but said it’s hard to pin down the nonstop standard of its violations due to the fact that it didn’t comply with with a request from a 2019 injunction to support records connected its COPPA compliance. The DOJ is asking the tribunal to forestall TikTok from violating COPPA successful the aboriginal and wage civilian penalties for each violation. Under the FTC Act, civilian penalties tin spell up to $51,744 per violation, per day.

The Federal Trade Commission took recognition for its probe starring to the complaint. The bureau announced successful June that it had referred a ailment against TikTok to the DOJ aft an probe of imaginable violations nether the FTC Act and COPPA. At the time, the FTC said it had “uncovered crushed to believe” TikTok was “violating oregon are astir to interruption the law.”

The ailment comes astir a period earlier the DOJ is acceptable to look TikTok successful tribunal implicit TikTok’s suit against a caller US law that could outlaw the app unless its Chinese genitor institution ByteDance agrees to rotation it off.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said successful a connection that the institution disagrees with the DOJ’s claims, “many of which subordinate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate oregon person been addressed. We are arrogant of our efforts to support children, and we volition proceed to update and amended the platform. To that end, we connection age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively region suspected underage users, and person voluntarily launched features specified arsenic default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and further privateness protections for minors.”