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

The Department of Justice is suing TikTok for allegedly letting kids nether 13 make 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 grounded to delete their accounts astatine their parents’ requests, successful usurpation of nan Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). When a kid nether 13 entered their property connected nan app, they’d beryllium prompted to participate a username, which doesn’t incorporate individual information, and it would create a Kids Mode relationship for nan user. But nan app wouldn’t notify parents aliases get their consent. Kids can’t upload videos successful that mode, but they tin position videos; nan DOJ alleges that TikTok collected immoderate individual accusation connected them arsenic portion of this process, for illustration 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 nan relationship creation process moreover if they’d primitively entered a day showing they’re nether 13, according to nan complaint. TikTok besides utilized to fto users log successful done Instagram aliases Google, which would categorize nan accounts arsenic “age unknown,” nan DOJ alleges.

The DOJ says TikTok has fto millions of kids usage its level but said it’s difficult to pin down nan nonstop standard of its violations because it didn’t comply pinch a request from a 2019 injunction to support records connected its COPPA compliance. The DOJ is asking nan tribunal to forestall TikTok from violating COPPA successful nan early and salary civilian penalties for each violation. Under nan FTC Act, civilian penalties tin spell up to $51,744 per violation, per day.

The Federal Trade Commission took in installments for its investigation starring to nan complaint. The agency announced successful June that it had referred a title against TikTok to nan DOJ aft an investigation of imaginable violations nether nan FTC Act and COPPA. At nan time, nan FTC said it had “uncovered logic to believe” TikTok was “violating aliases are astir to break nan law.”

The title comes astir a period earlier nan DOJ is group to look TikTok successful tribunal complete TikTok’s suit against a caller US law that could outlaw nan app unless its Chinese genitor company, ByteDance, agrees to rotation it off.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said successful a connection that nan institution disagrees pinch nan DOJ’s claims, “many of which subordinate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate aliases person been addressed. We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will proceed to update and amended nan platform. To that end, we connection age-appropriate experiences pinch 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.”