Justice Department sues TikTok, alleging data collection from minors

The Justice Department has sued TikTok, alleging it is illegally collecting data from minors in the U.S.

The suit, filed on Friday, claims TikTok is violating U.S. privacy laws that protect children online. It also claims TikTok hasn't paid out a required fine that it reached in a settlement with the government.

The suit says TikTok violated a law that requires consent be obtained from parents before data can be collected from children under the age of 13. It also alleges that TikTok didn't delete the accounts of children when their parents requested that they be removed.

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.

The Justice Department and the FTC say TikTok has allowed the creation of millions of accounts through third-party services that do not have associated age verification. They say TikTok shared collected data with other companies, including Meta, to drive activity on its platform.

The U.S. says TikTok has also failed to pay a $5.7 million fine to resolve 2019 allegations that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The government said at the time TikTok hadn't notified parents of kids under 13 that it was collecting data from them.

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TikTok says many of the allegations in the new suit have already been addressed and that some allegations inaccurately portray company activity.

"We offer age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users and have voluntarily launched features such as default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors," the company said in a statement.