US court sues TikTok for allegedly collecting data from children

The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating current legislation governing the privacy of minors in the digital sphere and of breaching an agreement it had reached with another government agency.

The lawsuit, filed with the Federal Trade Commission in a federal court in California, comes as the U.S. and the popular tech company are locked in another legal battle over whether or how TikTok will continue to operate in the country.

The lawsuit is based on allegations that TikTok, a platform popular with young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law requiring apps and websites targeting minors to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13.

The plaintiffs also claim that the companies failed to honor requests from parents who wanted their children’s accounts deleted, and chose not to delete accounts even when the companies knew they belonged to children under 13.

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendant, who is a repeat offender and operates on a large scale, from collecting and using private information from young children without the consent or control of their parents,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.

TikTok said it disagreed with the allegations, “many of which relate to past events and practices that are inaccurate or have since been changed.”

“We offer age-appropriate experiences for users under strong restrictions, proactively remove users we suspect may be underage, and have taken the initiative to introduce features such as pre-determined limits on the time users spend on the app, Family Pairing (a means that allows parents and guardians of minors to configure the safety of the app at their discretion), and additional measures to protect the privacy of minors,” the company said in a statement.

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