DOJ Sues TikTok, Accuses Social Platform Of Illegally Collecting Data From Children

The Justice Department is suing TikTok along with its China-based owner ByteDance, claiming they illegally collected data from American children.

The complaint filed by the DOJ alleges the app made it too easy for children to create accounts, from which the platform collected data. TikTok, which has over 170 million users based in the United States, is accused of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

The DOJ claims children were able to easily move through the company’s “age gates” by creating their accounts via Google and Instagram. Moreover, the company allegedly “failed to comply” with parents’ requests to have their children’s accounts removed from the app.

Additionally, TikTok’s “Kids Mode” collected data on underage users via email addresses. The law TikTok is being accused of violating protects American youth under the age of 13 from having their data collected.

Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said the DOJ is “deeply concerned that TikTok has continued to collect and retain children’s personal information despite a court order barring such conduct.”

He added, “With this action, the Department seeks to ensure that TikTok honors its obligation to protect children’s privacy rights and parents’ efforts to protect their children.”

Currently, TikTok faces a separate legal challenge in the D.C. appeals court regarding a law that forces ByteDance to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company by next year, or the app will be banned in the U.S.

Watch the clip via CNN.