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The Justice Department and the FTC have sued TikTok and its parent company ByteDance. They say TikTok broke a law that protects kids’ online privacy.
“From 2019 to now, TikTok let kids make accounts and share videos with adults,” said the Justice Department.
They collected lots of personal info from kids without telling their parents. Even in ‘Kids Mode’, they took email addresses and other details.
When parents asked to delete their kids’ accounts, TikTok often ignored them.
TikTok also had weak policies for finding and deleting kids’ accounts.
Despite a court order, TikTok kept breaking the rules.
This lawsuit is part of the U.S. government’s efforts against TikTok.
In March, the U.S. House passed a bill that could force ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban.
Many in the government think TikTok is a national security risk.
In April, President Biden signed a bill to ban TikTok unless it’s sold within nine months.
ByteDance argues this bill is unconstitutional. They claim there’s no way, “not commercially, not technologically, not legally,” to find a buyer for TikTok.
