Legal Battle Intensifies: TikTok Faces New Allegations of Child Data Mismanagement

In a recent development, TikTok, the widely used social media platform, is now facing a lawsuit filed by the US government. The case alleges that the company has been unlawfully collecting data from children and has also failed to act when parents have sought to delete their children's accounts.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has denounced these acts as a "massive scale" invasion of child privacy – a violation of laws that mandate online companies to obtain parental consent before gathering data from children under the age of 13.
This is not the first time that TikTok, and its parent company ByteDance, have faced such accusations, with a similar

lawsuit lodged in 2019. Despite the allegations, TikTok has refuted these claims, stating that they have proactively eliminated underage users and have voluntarily established protective measures like screen-time limits and increased privacy protocols for minors.

This lawsuit adds to the mounting tension between the US government and TikTok, which boasts over 170 million US users. Earlier in the year, President Biden introduced a law that could potentially lead to the sale or banning of the app due to national security worries. TikTok has since launched a lawsuit to halt the government’s plans.

The pressure continues to mount on TikTok, as it is alleged in the complaint that they have put in place "deficient" systems for identifying accounts created by children, and have obstructed parents attempting to delete these accounts. Considering that over 60% of US teens aged 13-17 reportedly use the platform, the government seeks a halt to TikTok's actions and penalties for each violation.

- CyberBeat