Justice Department sues TikTok over alleged children's online privacy law violations

Justice Department sues TikTok over alleged children’s online privacy law violations

Benjamin Hughes

Washington — The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance on Friday, alleging that the social media platform broke the law by collecting data on its young users. 

In the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the Justice Department alleged TikTok violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, as well as a 2019 agreement between TikTok and the Federal Trade Commission over its practices toward children. 

The lawsuit, which stems from an FTC investigation, alleges that TikTok knowingly permitted children to create accounts and interact with adults on the platform since 2019. The company collected and retained personal information from the children without notifying or obtaining consent from their parents, the suit said.

signed a bipartisan bill into law that forces TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell its stake in TikTok or face a ban in the U.S. TikTok has challenged that law in federal court.

Caitlin Yilek

Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

Source: cbsnews.com