The US government has filed a lawsuit against popular short video platform TikTok and its parent company ByteDance alleging massive privacy violations of children on the platform. The lawsuit claims that TikTok failed to protect the privacy of minors and illegally collected personal information from users under the age of 13 without obtaining parental consent as required by law.
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) mandates that websites and online services aimed at children cannot collect any personal details from users below 13 years without explicit permission from parents. However, the lawsuit states that TikTok knowingly allowed creation of regular accounts by minors and gathered their personal data like location, videos, contacts etc without consent. If found guilty, TikTok can face hefty fines of up to $51,000 per violation per day as penalties.
The Department of Justice filed the lawsuit joining hands with the Federal Trade Commission, with the goal of putting an end to “TikTok's unlawful invasions of children's privacy on a massive scale.” With over 170 million users in the US, TikTok collected extensive info about millions of American kids for years as per allegations. The legal action is part of the ongoing scrutiny of TikTok's data collection practices and ownership by Chinese parent company ByteDance.
TikTok maintains it disagrees with the charges and has made continuous efforts to protect the privacy and safety of younger users. But government bodies insist the platform must take full responsibility and stricter measures to shield children from privacy risks online. The case could result in billions in fines for TikTok if the court finds violations on the massive scale alleged. It remains to be seen what outcome the legal battle yields in safeguarding children's data rights.
