Security News > 2024 > August > DOJ and FTC Sue TikTok for Violating Children's Privacy Laws

The U.S. Department of Justice, along with the Federal Trade Commission, filed a lawsuit against popular video-sharing platform TikTok for "Flagrantly violating" children's privacy laws in the country.

The agencies claimed the company knowingly permitted children to create TikTok accounts and to view and share short-form videos and messages with adults and others on the service.

They also accused it of illegally collecting and retaining a wide variety of personal information from these children without notifying or obtaining consent from their parents, in contravention of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

"TikTok human reviewers allegedly spent an average of only five to seven seconds reviewing each account to make their determination of whether the account belonged to a child," the FTC said, adding it will take steps to protect children's privacy from firms that deploy "Sophisticated digital tools to surveil kids and profit from their data."

European Union regulators handed TikTok a €345 million fine in September 2023 for violating data protection laws in relation to its handling of children's data.

The lawsuit comes as the U.K. Information Commissioner's Office revealed it asked 11 media and video-sharing platforms to improve their children's privacy practices or risk facing enforcement action.

News URL

https://thehackernews.com/2024/08/doj-and-ftc-sue-tiktok-for-violating.html