US sues TikTok for collecting mass data on kids 13 and under

The US government on Friday filed suit against TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance over “widespread” violations that the short video app illegally collects data on kids 13 and under without parental permission.

The US Justice Department (DoJ), along with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly filed the civil suit in California Central District Court claiming the companies are failing to protect children’s privacy in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act or COPPA.

The lawsuit claims that Bytedance and its subsidiary knowingly allowed millions of children 13 and under to create TikTok accounts in which the kids could post and interact with other TikTok users, including adults and adult content, collecting and storing that information – all without the legal consent of their parents – and they’ve been doing it for years.

The FTC accuses TikTok of "unlawful massive-scale invasions of children's privacy," stating that the app “collects and retains a wide variety of personal information… despite a court order barring such conduct.”

"TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said on Friday.

The @FTC's investigation found that TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit today based on FTC's referral.https://t.co/zGiBm6aKd7

undefined Lina Khan (@linakhanFTC) August 2, 2024

If found liable, the “repeat offenders” could be forced to pay fines up to $51,744 – per violation, per day – potentially costing the company billions of dollars in penalties.

TikTok's "age gate" failure

Passed in 1988, COPPA bars website operators from knowingly collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under the age of 13, without first notifying parents and getting their permission.

The complaint states that although TikTok requires users creating accounts to report their birthdates, TikTok has repeatedly allowed children to bypass or evade this “age gate.”

COPPA regulations further require that the operators must delete any kids’ personal information collected by the websites at the parent's request, which the suit claims TikTok also repeatedly violates.

The court documents list a plethora of information that is collected from TikTok users aged 13 and under once they sign up for an account including:

• first and last name,
• age,
• email address,
• phone number,
• device information,
• usage information
• location data,
• social media account information,
• profile image(s),
• data from cookies and other tracking technologies,
• photographs, videos, and audio files containing the user’s image and voice.

TikTok also collects the metadata associated with a user's content and media files, such as when, where, and by whom the content was created – and the longer the user interacts with the platform, the more data TikTok takes, the suit said.

The Biden administration and lawmakers on both sides of the isle have been relentlessly trying to rein in the platform, which touts over 170 million American users.

In a separate battle with Washington, President Joe Biden signed a House bill on April 24th requiring ByteDance to sell off TikTok's US assets by January 19th or face a ban.

Bytedance and TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew has repeatedly said that will not happen and the company would fight the bill. Presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump has supported the ban in the past.

Child privacy and national security

The FBI has raised concerns that through the app, TikTok is collecting massive amounts of information on Americans and then sharing that data with the Chinese government.

Besides spying on US residents, the government says Beijing can use the platform to manipulate content and sway the opinions of the American people, a bone of contention highlighting the upcoming presidential election cycle.

Lawmakers have also said that the app is harmful to children's mental health.

Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ-D), the top ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, commented on the suit Friday, posting on X.

“Today’s action underscores the importance of divesting TikTok from Chinese Communist Party control. We simply cannot continue to allow our adversaries to harvest vast troves of Americans’ sensitive data," Pallone said.

“The reality is TikTok is one bad actor in an ecosystem full of bad actors unscrupulously collecting and monetizing the most sensitive data on Americans of all ages,” he said.

In response to the lawsuit, TikTok on Friday said it disagrees with the allegations, instead stressing its commitment to protecting kids and continued improvement of the platform.

TikTok also claims the lawsuit addresses past practices that are either inaccurate or have already been rectified by the company.

Disregarding child privacy laws has been a recurring issue for TikTok, with both the DoJ and the FTC expressing concern over the platform’s practices since at least 2019.

And last year TikTok was slapped with fines in the EU and UK over similar data mishandling concerns involving children.

“Congress must adopt comprehensive privacy reforms that are centered on data minimization and heightened protections for children and teens,” Pallone said.

In other child privacy-related news, on Tuesday, the US Senate passed a separate bill that extends COPPA protections to teenagers up to age 17.

The new bill would ban targeted ads to kids and teens and allow for deleting personal info from social media platforms. However, it still needs to pass in the Republican-controlled House, which is on break until September.

In 2022, two-thirds of US teens reported using TikTok, and by late 2023, nearly half of US teens reported using TikTok multiple times a day, the government noted.

Previous polls have shown that about half of Americans support the TikTok ban.