Group Asks Judge To Block $92 Million TikTok Settlement, Claims It Prevents Them From Seeking Arbitration

A group of hundreds of TikTok users who wish to be excluded from a $92 million class action settlement with the video-sharing app for alleged biometric privacy violations are asking a judge to block the agreement.

The group, consisting of 959 TikTok users, claimed through their lawyers that the deal would prevent them from seeking arbitration separately. They asked the judge in the matter to deny preliminary approval or change the deal so that those who seek to go through arbitration can be easily excluded, whether automatically, by opting out online, or by opting out through lawyers.

Right now, TikTok users who want to be left out of the settlement and go through arbitration by themselves must opt-out individually via mail, which objectors on April 2 said was crafted “to obstruct and confuse the arbitration claimants into losing their rights without affirmative consent,” Law360 reported.

For their part, counsel for those participating in the class action say that since the arbitration claimants wish not to participate in the settlement, they have no standing to interfere with it.

Arbitration is a private process in which two parties – in this case, TikTok and any one of the 959 users who do not want to participate in the class action settlement – agree a neutral arbitrator can make an agreement in a dispute after hearing arguments and reviewing evidence, rather than going through a court process.

Arbitration clauses are ubiquitous — they’re often buried in the terms of use agreements that virtually anyone who has used a web service or an app has signed, often after little more than a quick glance. Essentially, they give companies a detour out of court for most disputes, forcing potential plaintiffs to have their complaints heard before an ostensibly-neutral “arbitrator” rather than a judge or jury. In most cases, the decision of the arbitrator is binding and cannot be reversed in court.

Requesting class action lawsuits to be thrown out and sent to arbitration has been a common legal strategy for many companies, but the arbitration process can also be preferable for an individual if they believe they may be likely to get a more favorable outcome than they would by participating in a larger lawsuit.

A judge already criticized the TikTok settlement, saying in March that he needed more information about how the parties concluded the settlement would total $92 million – for a Class of 89 million members – after objectors pointed out that Facebook paid $650 million to settle similar claims over the collection of biometric data.

In fact, U.S. District Judge John Lee refused to approve the multi-million-dollar settlement agreement, asking at the time why TikTok would not use its app to contact class members to improve the settlement’s claims rate, and noting that the claims rate predicted in court documents was less than 2 percent.

If it is ultimately approved, the settlement will end 21 proposed class action lawsuits — mostly on behalf of minors — alleging TikTok doesn’t tell users its facial recognition technology collects and stores their biometric information, thereby violating Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. Under the act, TikTok needed written permission from users, according to the motion for settlement from March.

The lawsuit also claimed that TikTok and its parent company ByteDance broke federal laws, including privacy and computer fraud and abuse statutes. TikTok has denied any privacy violations.

Do you use TikTok? Do you feel like your data is safe on the app? Let us know in the comments below. 

Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit are represented by Carlson Lynch LLP, Fegan Scott LLC, Bird Marella Boxer Wolpert Nessim Drooks Lincenberg & Rhow PC, Freed Kanner London & Millen LLC, Susman Godfrey LLP, Bottini & Bottini Inc., Hausfeld LLP, Burns Charest LLP and Clifford Law Offices PC.

The objectors and arbitration claimants are represented by Jonathan Gardner, Meliss H. Nafash and Jonathan D. Waisnor of Labaton Sucharow LLP, and Michael D. Smith of the Law Office of Michael D. Smith.

TikTok is represented by Anthony J. Weibell of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC.

The TikTok Privacy Class Action Lawsuit is In re: TikTok Inc. Consumer Privacy Litigation, Case No. 1:20-cv-04699, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.