U.S. Sues TikTok Over Child Privacy Violations

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing it of illegally collecting children’s data and escalating a long-running battle between the U.S. government and the Chinese-owned app.

TikTok broke the law by gathering personal information from users under the age of 13 without their parents’ permission, according to the government’s complaint. The company knowingly allowed children under 13 to create and use TikTok accounts, the government said, and frequently failed to honor parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts.

The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal court in Southern California, said those practices violated both the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a law that restricts the online tracking of children, and a 2019 agreement between TikTok and the government in which the company pledged to notify parents before collecting children’s data and remove videos from users under 13 years old.

The suit, which also names TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, asks for the court to fine the companies over the violations.

The government said in the complaint that it was suing to “put an end to TikTok’s unlawful massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy.”

“We disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed,” Alex Haurek, a spokesman for TikTok, said in a statement. “We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to update and improve the platform.”