DOJ faces Friday deadline on TikTok children privacy suit

By Jody Godoy and David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department faces a Friday deadline to decide whether to sue TikTok and parent company ByteDance for failing to protect children’s privacy on the social media app.

In June, the Federal Trade Commission referred a complaint against the social media platform TikTok and China’s ByteDance over potential violations of children’s privacy to the Justice Department. That set a 45-day clock for DOJ to decide whether to file suit or not that expires on Friday.

In March, a source told Reuters the FTC could resolve a probe into TikTok over allegedly faulty privacy and data security practices by either filing suit or reaching a settlement.

Reuters in 2020 first reported the FTC and the U.S. Justice Department were looking into allegations the popular social media app failed to live up to a 2019 agreement aimed at protecting children’s privacy.

The Chinese-owned short-video platform boasts around 170 million U.S. users, and is currently fighting a new law that would force ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or face a ban.

The company last year faced fines from the European Union and U.K. over its handling of children’s data.

On Tuesday, U.S. Senate passed a bill that would extend COPPA to cover teenagers up to age 17, ban targeted advertising to kids and teens, and give parents and kids the option to delete their information from social media platforms.

The bill would need to pass in the Republican-controlled House, currently on recess until September, to become law.

TikTok said in June it has been working with the FTC for more than a year to address the agency’s concerns and said it was “disappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution.”