look news india
TikTok stole data of children in America: The US Justice Department has filed a case against social media giant TikTok and its parent company ByteDance for allegedly violating children's online privacy laws. The case, filed before the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a California federal court, accuses TikTok of collecting personal information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent, failing to cancel children's accounts after parental requests, and retaining data on minor users.
The complaint claims that TikTok and Bytedance have repeatedly violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). A previous settlement involving TikTok's predecessor, Musical.ly, was ignored. In 2019, Musical.ly agreed to pay $5.7 billion to settle similar allegations and comply with COPPA. The government alleges that this order has not been followed to date.
Accused of sharing children's data with other companies
TikTok denied the allegations, calling them outdated practices, and said it was trying to protect minors through features like default screen time limits and family pairing. However, the Justice Department said TikTok's policies were inadequate to allow information from children's accounts to leak off the platform. The case also alleges that TikTok obtained data about children by allowing them to open accounts without age verification or parental approval. It was shared with companies like Facebook and AppsFlyer to retarget less active users. The Justice Department is seeking a fine and a preliminary injunction to prevent further violations. The case is part of a broader investigation into social media companies' handling of children's data.