Under the title "Lawsuit Accuses TikTok of Violating Children's Privacy," Bloomberg Ashar reported that the popular video application TikTok is facing a lawsuit in London filed on behalf of millions of children in the UK and Europe over privacy concerns. The lawsuit alleges that the beloved video platform and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd, have violated data protection laws in the UK and the European Union. The group behind the lawsuit stated in a statement on Wednesday that the lawsuit aims to prevent TikTok from "illegally processing millions of private information of children" and demands the deletion of any personal information.
The lawsuit, filed by Anne Longfield, the former Children's Commissioner for England, claims that the app may have also collected personal information from every child who has used the application since May 2018, regardless of their account status or privacy settings, for the benefit of unidentified third parties. This case comes amid increasing scrutiny of the app by various data protection authorities in the European Union, where EU data protection regulators pledged last year to coordinate potential investigations with the Chinese company and to form a working group to gain a better understanding of TikTok's "operations, procedures, and practices."
**American Fine**
In 2019, ByteDance was fined $5.7 million by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to settle allegations that Musical.ly, which was acquired by ByteDance and renamed TikTok, illegally collected information from minors. This penalty is considered the largest settlement in a children's privacy case by the Federal Trade Commission. The company is also seeking permission to settle a privacy lawsuit in the United States. TikTok's owner stated that the allegations in the London case "lack merit" and that the company will vigorously defend against this action.
The company said in a statement, "Privacy and security are top priorities for TikTok. We have strong policies, procedures, and technologies in place to help protect all users, especially teenage users." The lawsuit was filed in December and details of it were only revealed on Wednesday. If the case is successful, children may be entitled to thousands of pounds in compensation, with claimants estimating that over 3.5 million children in the UK alone could be affected, which means TikTok could face a hefty bill if it loses. Longfield stated via email, "There is something much darker behind the catchy songs and lip-syncing dance challenges. TikTok is a data collection service cloaked as a social network."
Last year, a London judge granted a 12-year-old girl the right to remain anonymous in a privacy-related case to avoid being bullied by other users of the app. The girl was the lead claimant in a case that remained pending until the High Court's ruling on a similar case against Google.
