US DOJ Sues TikTok and ByteDance Over Alleged Child Privacy Violations

• The U.S. Department of Justice sued TikTok and its parent company over violations of COPPA.
• The world-popular social media service reportedly knowingly harvested the personal details of children without their guardian's consent.
• The announcement also said the app permitted children to create and use regular TikTok accounts.

​The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, alleging the popular social media platform collected personal information from children under 13 without parental consent, violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). 

The DoJ filing said that since 2019, TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create regular accounts instead of restricting them to the pared-back version dedicated to children under 13 called ‘Kids Mode.’ Thus, kids under the permitted age could use the regular platform to create, view, and share TikToks and messages with adults and others. 

The announcement mentioned that TikTok collected and stored children’s personal information, such as email addresses and other types of personal data, for which parents did not consent or receive notifications. It further states these types of data were unlawfully collected and retained even for ‘Kids Mode’ accounts.

The lawsuit also implied ByteDance’s app failed to implement measures to identify and remove regular accounts made by children. 

TikTok replied to the DoJ lawsuit by saying the company disagrees with these allegations, which apparently refer to older events and practices alone.

In June, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) referred a complaint targeting TikTok and its parent company in the U.S. for collecting children’s data without parents’ consent as a result of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation focusing on the Musical.ly service, which the company acquired in the meantime and incorporated into TikTok. 

In 2019, the app received a hefty fine for violation of children’s online privacy.