TikTok child privacy violations: Who’s affected?
Did your child create a TikTok account without your consent when they were under the age of 13? You may qualify to join a class action lawsuit if you live in California, New York, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington or Washington, D.C.
TikTok and parent company ByteDance are being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for alleged widespread violations of child privacy laws. It is being alleged that TikTok:
- Permitted children to create and access accounts without their parents’ knowledge or consent.
- Collected data from those children that TikTok is not legally allowed to collect.
- Failed to comply with parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts and data.
This unauthorized gathering of children’s personal information without notifying or obtaining parental consent is not only against the law but also places minors at risk.
“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “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.”
If your child created a TikTok account without your permission, you may be eligible to join this TikTok class action lawsuit investigation, which is separate from the government-filed lawsuit.
Do you qualify?
If your child was under the age of 13 when they created a TikTok user profile, you may be able to seek compensation. Submit your information now to see if you qualify. This investigation is open to parents who live in the following states:
- California
- New York
- Maine
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- North Dakota
- New Mexico
- Oregon
- Utah
- Washington
- Washington, D.C.
Please fill out the form on this page for more information.
DOJ and FTC allege TikTok violated the privacy of millions of children
A recent civil lawsuit filed by the federal government alleges that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, violated a previous order by allowing children to create accounts without parental consent, gathering children’s private information without parental consent, and failing to delete the children’s accounts when ordered to do so by their parents.
In 2019, the DOJ alleged that TikTok did not comply with the standards established by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. TikTok paid a $5.7 million penalty for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
However, a recent FTC investigation found that TikTok failed to adhere to COPPA. According to the FTC’s findings:
- Younger users could easily bypass age restrictions and create standard accounts
- All TikTok accounts, including those created in “Kid Mode,” are subject to data collection practices
- The company did not cooperate when parents requested they delete their child’s TikTok accounts
The DOJ and FTC filed a civil lawsuit against TikTok on August 2, 2024.
Can a child create a TikTok account without parental consent?
Despite regulatory agencies establishing stringent parameters around age restrictions, TikTok allegedly continues to allow underage individuals to create standard accounts in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The DOJ calls TikTok’s current practices for confirming a user’s age inadequate and ineffectual.
Parents who discovered that their under-13-year-old child created a TikTok account without their permission may be able to seek legal recourse through this TikTok child privacy class action lawsuit investigation.
Fill out the form on this page to see if you qualify for a free case evaluation.
See If You Qualify
Join a TikTok child privacy class action lawsuit investigation
By submitting your information, you agree to receive communications from Top Class Actions and to be contacted by an attorney or law firm or their agents to discuss the details of your potential case at no charge to you if you qualify.
After you fill out the form, an attorney(s) or their agent(s) may contact you to discuss your legal rights.
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