US lawsuit against TikTok to target children’s privacy issues

The U.S. Department of Justice is planning a lawsuit against TikTok focusing on allegations that the social media platform violated children’s privacy rights, rather than claims it misled adult users about data privacy, according to a source familiar with the matter. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated these potential violations by TikTok and its parent company ByteDance and referred the case to the Justice Department on Tuesday.

“The investigation uncovered reason to believe named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest,” the FTC stated at the time.

Reuters first reported in 2020 that the FTC and the U.S. Justice Department were examining allegations that TikTok failed to comply with a 2019 agreement aimed at protecting children’s privacy. TikTok has expressed strong disagreement with the FTC’s allegations and disappointment over the agency’s decision to pursue a lawsuit.

This probe is separate from ongoing congressional concerns about the potential misuse of data from TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users by the Chinese government. TikTok denies these allegations.

Additionally, TikTok is contesting a law passed in April that requires its Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets by January 19 or face a ban. ByteDance stated on Thursday that a ban would be inevitable without court intervention and that divestiture is “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally.”