U.S. sues TikTok, alleging millions of child privacy violations

The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance on Friday, alleging that the company repeatedly violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

The government alleged in the suit that TikTok knowingly collected data from millions of children under the age of 13 and allowed them to interact with adults and adult content on the app.

According to the civil suit, obtained by CNBC, TikTok is accused of storing data like email addresses from users under the age of 13, allowing them to create regular accounts (TikTok also offers a pared-down version of the platform for children under 13), and not honoring the requests of parents who seek deletion of their young children’s accounts.

“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a release. “The FTC will continue to use the full scope of its authorities to protect children online — especially as firms deploy increasingly sophisticated digital tools to surveil kids and profit from their data.”

In a statement, TikTok disagreed with the allegations in the suit.

“We disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed. We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to update and improve the platform,” the statement said. “To that end, 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.”

In 2019, the government sued Musical.ly, the company that later became TikTok, for alleged COPPA violations. Since then, TikTok has been held to a court order requiring it to take additional measures to comply with COPPA.

The current lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, where TikTok’s U.S. headquarters are located.

According to the suit, children under the age of 13 were able to create, view and share short-form videos and messages with adults and other TikTok users, outside the boundaries of “Kids Mode,” the sequestered version of the app available to that age group. The complaint alleges that TikTok collected and retained information from these children without notifying or obtaining consent from their parents, and that the platform has not been able to identify and delete TikTok accounts created by young children.

Some of the allegations against TikTok in the government’s complaint are redacted while the court weighs TikTok’s argument that they be filed under seal. The court’s ruling will determine how much of the case is made public.

TikTok has faced significant pushback from bipartisan elected officials over fears that the app, which is owned by a Chinese company, threatens national security, exposes young users to dangerous content and pushes divisive rhetoric. One of the largest and most popular social media platforms, TikTok and its users have argued that the app is subjected to unfair scrutiny compared to its American-owned social media competitors.

In April, President Joe Biden signed a national security package that included a provision that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if ByteDance does not sell the platform to an American company. The ban would not go into effect until after the 2024 elections, and TikTok sued the U.S. government in May, saying the bill violates the First Amendment.

There are 170 million American TikTok users. Both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are using the platform to campaign ahead of the election. In 2020, Trump signed an executive order that would ban TikTok, which was struck down in court. In March, Trump said he no longer intended to ban TikTok if re-elected.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com