US sues TikTok over child protection concerns

Photo: Valérian Mazataud Le Devoir This lawsuit aims to prevent the defendants “from collecting and using the private data of young children without parental consent or control,” says a deputy prosecutor.

Julie Jammot – Agence France-Presse in San Francisco

Posted yesterday at 14:43 Updated yesterday at 23:46

• United States

Already threatened with a ban in the United States, the popular app TikTok is now facing a complaint from the US Department of Justice accusing it of “widespread violations of children’s privacy laws.”

Because of the platform of the Chinese group ByteDance, millions of children under the age of 13 have been subjected to “extensive data collection,” and have “interacted with adult users and accessed adult content,” the department summarized in a press release Friday.

According to the complaint, TikTok “knowingly” allowed children to create accounts and surf the social network used by 170 million people in the United States, including a large proportion of teenagers and young adults.

Since 2019, the app and its parent company “have collected and retained a wide range of personal information about these minors without informing their parents or obtaining their consent. Even for accounts created in + Kids Mode +,” the department details.

“We do not agree with these allegations, many of which relate to past practices that are misrepresented or have already been addressed,” a spokesperson for the company responded to AFP.

“We pride ourselves on our efforts to protect children,” he added, citing safeguards the company “voluntarily” put in place, such as terminating accounts of users under the age of 13 and limiting viewing time.

“Repeat Offenders”

The lawsuit “is necessary to prevent children under the age of 13 from using the regular TikTok app,” Brian Boynton, an assistant attorney general, was quoted as saying in the statement.

It is also necessary, he added, to prevent the defendants, “who are repeat offenders and operate on a large scale, from collecting and using the private data of young children without their consent or control.” parents.”

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The U.S. consumer protection agency, the FTC, had filed a complaint with the Justice Department in June because it “had reason to believe” that TikTok and ByteDance “were violating or were in the process of violating the law.”

The FTC was conducting a follow-up investigation to ensure that the platform was complying with the terms of a 2019 settlement, when it accused TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly, of improperly collecting the personal data of minors.

TikTok had agreed to pay $5.7 million in compensation and committed to complying with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed in 1998.

Beyond children, the US government and many elected officials accuse the platform of collecting data on American citizens for Beijing, and believe that it represents a threat to national security.

The US Congress passed a bill in April to force ByteDance to sell its flagship app within nine months, or risk it being banned in the United States.

“Destroyed” lives

During a hearing in the House of Representatives in March 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Chew faced a barrage of questions about TikTok's responsibility for the mental and physical health of young people.

“Your company destroyed their lives,” said Florida Republican Rep. Gus Bilirakis, pointing to the parents of a teenager who had committed suicide, who had come to witness the the hearing.

They filed a complaint against the social network, which they accuse of showing thousands of unsolicited videos about suicide to their son.

Last year, the European Union and the United Kingdom fined TikTok over its handling of children’s data.

Meta is also facing lawsuits from U.S. states, launched in October, accusing its Facebook and Instagram platforms of harming the “mental and physical health of young people.”

Many elected officials want to better regulate social media and better protect children online, but between party squabbles and intense lobbying by big tech companies, Congress has struggled for years to adopt concrete measures.

In mid-June, the U.S. surgeon general called for social media platforms to display information about the risks to young people who spend time on them, similar to the mandatory warning messages on drug packages. cigarettes.

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