Justice Dept sues TikTok for allegedly illegal data collection from children

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and failing to adhere to a previous settlement with another federal agency.

The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a California federal court, adds to the ongoing legal battles between the U.S. and the popular social media platform. The outcome may significantly impact TikTok’s continued operation in the country.

The lawsuit accuses TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, based in China, of breaching a federal law that mandates kid-focused apps and websites obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” stated Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

The decision to file the lawsuit follows an FTC investigation that reviewed whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.

In 2019, Musical.ly faced federal allegations for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by not notifying parents about its data collection practices for kids under 13.

That year, Musical.ly, acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok, agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine to settle those allegations. They were also subject to a court order mandating COPPA compliance, which the government asserts has not occurred.

The Justice Department and the FTC allege that TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create accounts and retained their personal data without parental notification. This includes accounts in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok designed for children under 13, per the lawsuit’s details in a Justice press release.

The agencies claim that the information collected included user activities on the app and other identifiers aimed at building user profiles. They also accuse TikTok of sharing this data with other companies, such as Meta’s Facebook and an analytics firm named AppsFlyer, to encourage “Kids Mode” users to stay active on the platform—a tactic TikTok has called “re-targeting less active users.”

The complaint further alleges TikTok allowed children to create accounts without parental consent by using credentials from third-party services, which led to the creation of “age unknown” accounts. These accounts, the agencies note, have grown into the millions.

When parents discovered their children’s accounts and requested their deletion, federal officials claim those requests were ignored. According to a Justice press release, these violations have led to millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, exposing them to adult interactions and content.

In March, a source informed the Associated Press that the FTC was also investigating whether TikTok violated laws against “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data.

These specific allegations were not included in the complaint, which seeks civil penalties and injunctive relief.