Well, this is never a good thing.
The United States Department of Justice on Friday sued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). COPPA makes it illegal for websites to collect, use, and disclose data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent.
The lawsuit alleges that from 2019 on, TikTok knowingly allowed children to create TikTok accounts and to create, view, and share videos and messages with adults and others on the TikTok platform. As such, TikTok is accused of collecting and retaining personal information from children without their parents’ consent. It’s also been noted that data was collected from accounts created in the app’s Kids Mode.
The DOJ has stated that the practice exposed the children to “extensive data collection” and allowed them to “interact with adult users and access adult content.” TikTok is also accused of making it difficult for parents to get their child’s account and data deleted.
The suit seeks civil penalties for every COPAA violation as well as injunctive relief that would prevent TikTok from continuing to collect data from children.
TikTok is already involved in an ongoing lawsuit with the U.S. government over a bill that requires the social network to be sold off to a non-Chinese company or face a ban in the United States. TikTok parent company ByteDance has until January 19, 2025 to find a buyer for TikTok, but a sale is unlikely because the Chinese government would need to approve the divestiture, and has said that it would “firmly oppose” any effort to sell TikTok.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via MacRumors and justice.gov