TikTok faces civil lawsuit in the United States for violating the privacy of minors
The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have sued the TikTok platform for collecting data from minor users without parental consent
Under the accusation of having collected data from minor users without their parents’ permission, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission have filed a lawsuit against the TikTok platform.
Both organizations argue that “the popular video sharing application violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act” and stressed that it committed a widespread violation of laws that protect children’s privacy.
It is estimated that millions of children under 13 years of age have suffered from sustained data collection. Also, they have “interacted with adult users and have accessed adult content,” according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
TikTok is accused of allowing minors to create accounts and browse its social network, “frequented by 170 million people in the United States.” Data collection has been sustained since 2019; likewise, the information has been stored without parental knowledge or authorization, even in the case of accounts created in Kids Mode.
Deputy Attorney General Brian Boynton indicated that the fine is a necessary action to prevent minors under 13 from using regular TikTok. He warned that the defendants, “who are repeat offenders and operate on a large scale, must be prevented from collecting and using private data of young children without parental consent or control.”
It was learned that in June, the United States Consumer Protection Agency (FTC) presented a report to the Department of Justice in June regarding suspicions of violation of the law by TikTok and ByteDance.
TikTok spokespersons have regretted the measure, and have indicated that they are accused of past practices, which have already been corrected. They noted that they are disappointed that the Department of Justice chose the fine instead of continuing to work together to find a reasonable solution.
They recalled that they have taken measures to protect children, such as deleting accounts of those under 13 years of age and limiting viewing time.
M.Pino
Source: france24
(Reference image source: Rubaitul Azad in Unsplash)
Visit our news channel on Google News and follow us to get accurate, interesting information and stay up to date with everything. You can also see our daily content on Twitter and Instagram
