TikTok class action alleges platform collects children’s data

TikTok children’s data class action overview: 

• Who: A group of parents have filed a class action lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance. 
• Why: The parents allege TikTok invaded the privacy of millions of children under age 13.
• Where: The TikTok class action was filed in a California federal court.

A group of parents has slapped TikTok and its parent company ByteDance with a class action lawsuit alleging they targeted millions of children under the age of 13 and violated their privacy.

The parents of three children in California, Connecticut and Florida filed the class action complaint against TikTok Ltd. and ByteDance Inc. on Aug. 9 in a California federal court alleging invasion of privacy and unfair business practices.

According to the lawsuit, ByteDance “knowingly” encouraged children under 13 to create TikTok accounts “for the purpose of collecting intimate, deeply intrusive data points about them and their online behavior without notice and parental consent.” 

“Defendants use this unlawfully collected personal information for the purpose of providing personally curated content that will keep children engaged with TikTok, so that defendants can serve them copious amounts of behavioral advertising and/or share their information with third parties,” the parents allege. 

DOJ filed similar lawsuit over TikTok children’s data

The lawsuit comes a week after the U.S. Department of Justice hit TikTok and ByteDance with a lawsuit claiming the companies violated laws to protect children’s privacy online.

The lawsuit alleges that the companies collected and stored children’s data — including their email addresses — from the popular app, despite a court order banning it from doing so.

In 2019, the government sued TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly, for Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act violations, and since then, TikTok has been subject to a court order requiring it to undertake specific measures to comply with the law.

However, TikTok has continued to knowingly permit children to create regular TikTok accounts and to create, view, and share short-form videos and messages with adults and others on the regular TikTok platform, the DOJ alleges.

TikTok targets children for profit, parental lawsuit claims

Meanwhile, the parents who are suing TikTok say the company is solely targeting children for its own profit.  

They allege that the children are so integral to TikTok’s profitability that the companies were “unwilling or unable” to cease their allegedly unlawful business practices in the face of the permanent injunction and civil penalty from 2019. 

They say TikTok’s user base is mostly made up of children, and that the company has collected
“extensive data” from those children and has failed to comply with parents’ requests to delete their accounts and personal information. 

The parents are suing on behalf of any children in California, Connecticut or Florida who were 13 or younger when they used TikTok and whose data was collected without parental consent.

They are suing for unfair business practices, unjust enrichment and invasion of privacy and are seeking certification of the class action, damages, fees, costs and a permanent injunction requiring TikTok to destroy any personal information collected in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

What do you think of the allegations in this TikTok class action lawsuit? Let us know in the comments. 

The plaintiffs are represented by Patrick Carey and Mark Todzo of Lexington Law Group LLP and David S. Golub, Steven Bloch, Ian W. Sloss, Jennifer Sclar and John Seredynski of Silver Golub & Teitell LLP. 

The TikTok children’s data class action lawsuit is A.A. et al. v. ByteDance Inc. et al., Case No. 2:24-cv-06784, in the U.S. District Court Central District of California.

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