TikTok sued for 'massive' invasion of child privacy

The US government has recently filed a lawsuit against TikTok, a widely used social media platform, accusing the company of unlawfully collecting data from children and not responding adequately when parents attempted to delete their children's accounts. The Department of Justice claims that TikTok's practices represent a significant invasion of child privacy, violating laws that require online services to obtain parental consent before collecting information from users under the age of 13. Officials have pointed out that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, are 'repeat offenders,' referencing a similar case that was brought against them in 2019. In response to these allegations, TikTok has stated that they are 'proud' of their efforts to protect children on their platform. The company claims to actively remove underage users and has implemented various protective measures, including default screen-time limits and enhanced privacy settings for minors. A spokesperson for TikTok expressed their disagreement with the allegations, stating, 'We disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed. ' They emphasized their commitment to continually updating and improving the platform to ensure the safety of children. This lawsuit intensifies the scrutiny on TikTok and ByteDance, especially as they are already facing legal challenges regarding a law that could potentially ban the app in the United States. The lawsuit details that TikTok has employed 'deficient' methods for screening accounts created by children and has obstructed parents' attempts to delete these accounts. A review of 1,700 requests from parents to cancel accounts made between 2019 and 2020 revealed that 30% of those accounts remained active as of November 2021. The lawsuit claims that moderators responsible for reviewing accounts flagged as underage were only allowed to take action if they observed a clear admission of a child's age, and they had limited access to user videos. Furthermore, these moderators typically had only a few seconds to make their decisions. The government is asking the court to order TikTok to cease these practices and to impose penalties for each violation. Brian Boynton, the principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, stated, 'This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control. ' TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms globally, boasting over 1 billion users, with more than 170 million users in the United States alone. Surveys conducted by Pew Research indicate that over 60% of US teens aged 13-17 use TikTok, with more than half of them logging in daily. The lawsuit aims to put an end to what the US government describes as TikTok’s unlawful and massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy.