The US Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for failing to protect children’s privacy, alleging violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Reuters reports.
The lawsuit, supported by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleges that TikTok allowed children under 13 to create accounts and interact with others without proper parental consent, unlawfully collecting their personal information. TikTok disputes the allegations, stating that many relate to past practices that have been addressed and highlighting its efforts to improve child safety on the platform.
This legal action is part of a broader US crackdown on TikTok over concerns about data collection and potential influence by the Chinese government. The FTC had previously investigated TikTok’s compliance with a 2019 agreement on children’s privacy. TikTok has also faced fines in the EU and UK for similar issues.
