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TikTok Sued by US Justice Department for Alleged Violations of Kids’ Privacy

The social media company, already fighting for its existence in the US, now has to contend with a potentially expensive penalty stemming from its policies toward users under 13.

In March 2019, TikTok agreed to a US federal court order barring the social media giant from collecting personal information from its youngest users without their parents’ consent. Lawsuits over alleged violations of children’s privacy are almost a rite of passage for social platforms these days, with companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Epic Games collectively having paid hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok gathered and shared information about children’s usage of the service and built profiles on them while misleading parents about the data collection.

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