US Department Of Justice Will Sue TikTok For Child Privacy Violations

The United States Department of Justice plans to focus the upcoming lawsuit against TikTok (photo: x @TheJusticeDept)

JAKARTA - The United States Department of Justice plans to focus the upcoming lawsuit against TikTok on allegations that the popular social media platform violates children's privacy rights. The lawsuit this time, not on claims that they misled adult users about their data privacy practices.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has investigated potential breaches by TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, and referred the case to the Department of Justice on Tuesday, June 18.

"The investigation revealed reasons to believe that the stated defendant violated or would violate the law and that this process was for the public interest," the FTC said in a statement.

Reuters first reported in 2020 that the FTC and the US Department of Justice were investigating allegations that the popular social media app failed to fulfill a 2019 deal aimed at protecting children's privacy.

TikTok said it strongly disagreed with the FTC allegations and was disappointed that the agent decided to pursue the lawsuit.

The investigation is separate from ongoing concerns in Congress about potential data from 170 million TikTok users in the US who are illegally accessible to the Chinese government. TikTok denies the allegations.

TikTok is challenging a law passed in April requiring its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, to release TikTok assets in the US on January 19 or face bans.

ByteDance said in the case on Thursday, June 20, that the ban was inevitable without court intervention, and that divestment was "unable technologically, commercially, or legally."