The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department have filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This law requires digital platforms to inform and get consent from parents before collecting and using personal data from children under 13 years old.
According to a press release from the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, TikTok and ByteDance were aware of the need to comply with COPPA but continued to allow millions of children under 13 to use their platform. This is despite the fact that TikTok had already settled with the FTC in 2019 over COPPA violations and agreed to pay $5.7 million and take measures to prevent underage sign-ups.
The FTC stated that TikTok had a policy in 2020 of keeping accounts of children under 13 unless the child explicitly stated their age and met certain conditions. Human reviewers allegedly spent only a few seconds reviewing each account to determine the user’s age.
Even after concerns were raised by employees and TikTok reportedly changed its policy regarding age verification, the platform continued to collect and use data from underage users for targeted advertising. TikTok also allowed users to sign up with third-party accounts without verifying if they were over 13.
The FTC also criticized TikTok Kids Mode, claiming that it collected more data than necessary, including users’ in-app activities and identifiers used to create profiles shared with third parties to prevent user attrition. When parents requested the deletion of their child’s account, TikTok reportedly made it difficult and often did not comply with such requests.
FTC Chair Lina Khan stated that TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated children’s privacy, putting the safety of millions of children at risk. The FTC plans to impose civil penalties of up to $51,744 per violation per day and seek a permanent injunction to prevent future COPPA violations.
In response to these allegations, TikTok defended its efforts to protect children, claiming that many of the allegations relate to past events or inaccurate practices that have been addressed. The platform mentioned its age-appropriate experiences, strict safeguards, removal of suspected underage users, and the launch of features like default screen time limits and Family Pairing to enhance privacy protections for minors.
The FTC and Justice Department are taking a firm stance against TikTok and ByteDance in light of these alleged violations, emphasizing the importance of protecting children online in an era of advanced digital surveillance and data exploitation.
