The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a landmark lawsuit against TikTok on Friday for violating the privacy of underage users by obtaining personal information it should not have legally obtained. The lawsuit comes as legislation that could ban TikTok in the US advances in the House of Representatives.
TikTok is one of the most used apps by young mobile users, especially teenagers, and where many fashions and memes have been born that then make the jump to other social networks. Although it has not lacked competitors such as Meta and YouTube, TikTok is the only one that has managed to connect with this new audience; however, this important trial could reveal the tactics of the application to conquer this young audience.
Specifically, the DOJ accuses TikTok of obtain information from users under 13 years of age without their parents’ consent. In theory, TikTok has an age limit of 13 to create an account in the app and use it; Additionally, user accounts under the age of 18 are subject to various restrictions, including harmful, hateful, and eating disorder content.
However, according to the DOJ, TikTok accepted users under the age of 13 on its platform, knowing that they were not of the minimum age to use the service, and without the express consent of their parents. It also accuses the company of “frequently failing” to delete minors’ accounts when they are reported by their parents.
The DOJ says these practices violate laws designed to prevent the tracking of children online; in addition to an agreement between TikTok and the government in which the company promised to inform parents before obtaining your children’s data and removing videos created by children under 13.
In addition to TikTok, the lawsuit also names its parent company, Bytedance, and calls for both companies to be fined for violations. A fine that would be in addition to any legal troubles TikTok may have in the United States in the future.
Last April, the US Congress approved a ban on the use of TikTok in the country, an extreme measure that would occur if Bytedance fails to sell TikTok to another company. In this case, the motivation behind the move lies in Bytedance’s ties to the Chinese government, with critics accusing the company of providing it with access to US user data.
