The story of TikTok just keep getting worse. Now it appears that the company’s “commitment” to protect children is as much a sham as their claims to protect adult privacy.
The recently-filed Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against TikTok/ByteDance, US v. ByteDance, Ltd. (Civil Action Number 2:24-cv-06535, Federal District Court, Central District of California), can be read in its entirety here:
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/bytedance_complaint.pdf
In this suit the FTC alleges that TikTok failed to obtain parental consent before collecting information on children under 13, a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
The complaint specifically alleges that TikTok:
- Allowed children to bypass the age gate (paragraph 35, 45–48)
- Collected personal information even when its service was used in TikTok Kids Mode (paragraph 39, 54)
- Makes it difficult for parents to request that their child’s accounts be deleted (paragraphs 62–68, in particular paragraph 65)
"Parents must navigate a convoluted process to figure out how to request deletion of their child's account and information. For example, as recently as 2023, a parent visiting tiktok.com to request deletion of their child's TikTok account and information had to scroll through multiple webpages to find and click on a series of links and menu options that gave no clear indication they apply to such a request. Parents then had to explain in a text box that they are a parent who wanted their child's account and data to be deleted."
Paragraph 75:
On at least some occasions, even when a parent or guardian completed Defendants' secondary form, Defendants still failed to delete their children's accounts and information.
Paragraph 96:
TikTok allows users to include in their videos another user's comment, which is displayed alongside the commenter's photograph and username. When Defendants did "delete" the account of a child, that child's comments remained in other users' posts, along with their photograph and username. These images had unique identifiers that tied each child's photograph, username, and comment to an account that Defendants knew had been deleted because it belonged to a child.
FTC Chair Lina M. Khan in a press release about the lawsuit said, “TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country.”
There is the potential for civil penalties up to $51,744 per violation, per day. Rounding down to $50,000, and taking a modest estimate of 1 million kids (paragraph 1 says “millions”), plus the years the activities have been going on that’s an enormous potential fine, probably enough to bankrupt ByteDance.
Fine by me!
More Reasons to NEVER use TickTok: the FTC Lawsuit
The story of TikTok just keep getting worse. Now it appears that the company’s “commitment” to protect children is as much a sham as their claims to protect adult privacy.
The recently-filed Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against TikTok/ByteDance, US v. ByteDance, Ltd. (Civil Action Number 2:24-cv-06535, Federal District Court, Central District of California), can be read in its entirety here:
https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/bytedance_complaint.pdf
In this suit the FTC alleges that TikTok failed to obtain parental consent before collecting information on children under 13, a violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
The complaint specifically alleges that TikTok:
"Parents must navigate a convoluted process to figure out how to request deletion of their child's account and information. For example, as recently as 2023, a parent visiting tiktok.com to request deletion of their child's TikTok account and information had to scroll through multiple webpages to find and click on a series of links and menu options that gave no clear indication they apply to such a request. Parents then had to explain in a text box that they are a parent who wanted their child's account and data to be deleted."Paragraph 75:
On at least some occasions, even when a parent or guardian completed Defendants' secondary form, Defendants still failed to delete their children's accounts and information.Paragraph 96:
TikTok allows users to include in their videos another user's comment, which is displayed alongside the commenter's photograph and username. When Defendants did "delete" the account of a child, that child's comments remained in other users' posts, along with their photograph and username. These images had unique identifiers that tied each child's photograph, username, and comment to an account that Defendants knew had been deleted because it belonged to a child.FTC Chair Lina M. Khan in a press release about the lawsuit said, “TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country.”
There is the potential for civil penalties up to $51,744 per violation, per day. Rounding down to $50,000, and taking a modest estimate of 1 million kids (paragraph 1 says “millions”), plus the years the activities have been going on that’s an enormous potential fine, probably enough to bankrupt ByteDance.
Fine by me!