Steven Cohen  |  May 14, 2020

Category: Legal News

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TikTok users claim that children's data has been unlawfully collected.

A class action lawsuit has been waged against the popular video app TikTok by an individual who claims that the company collects and disseminates users’ biometric facial geometric scans.

The unnamed plaintiff, a 16-year-old minor known only as E.R., says that she has used TikTok to upload and post numerous videos to the app, including images of her face. She also claims that her face has also appeared in other users’ uploaded TikTok videos.

E.R. alleges that the TikTok video app has collected and stored her unique biometric identifiers and information. In addition, the plaintiff states that TikTok has shared these biometric identifiers and information to third-parties.

E.R. states that TikTok has approximately 2.4 million users, many of whom are minors. Bytedance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, was first launched in China in September 2016, according to the class action lawsuit.

It was then made available to users in the United States and by October 2018, it was the most downloaded app in the country. E.R. says that as of January 2020, teens accounted for 37.2 percent of active TikTok users in the United States.

E.R. says that TikTok has recently come under close scrutiny by the U.S. Senate. She reports that at least two senators have formally requested that the intelligence community conduct an assessment of any national security risks involving the popular app.

The plaintiff maintains that TikTok engaged in conduct against TikTok users without informing them that their biometric identifiers were being collected and disseminated, without informing their users of the purpose for collecting the biometric information, and without seeking and obtaining releases from impacted TikTok users.

“Defendants, through the popular app used to create short dance, lip-sync, comedy and talent videos, collected, captured, obtained, stored and, upon information and belief, disclosed and otherwise disseminated Illinois resident minor TikTok users’ facial geometric scans,” the TikTok videos class action lawsuit goes on to say.

The plaintiff states that the defendant has implemented an artificial intelligence tool that will automatically perform the facial scans.

This is the same technology that allows TikTok users to superimpose images on their faces as well as use “filters” that will alter the appearance of the users’ facial features, E.R. states.

The plaintiff claims that TikTok’s facial recognition technology scans every video that is uploaded to the app for faces and takes out geometric data relating to the unique contours of the face. The TikTok video class action lawsuit goes on to say that the app then uses the data to store a template of each face, without informing anyone about this practice.

In addition, the defendant has failed to use reasonable care to protect the plaintiff’s biometric data from being disseminated and disclosed to third-parties, the TikTok class action lawsuit goes on to say.

The plaintiff states that TikTok has failed to adopt a public retention schedule that would permanently destroy the biometric data that they have collected from TikTok users.

 

Filing a class action lawsuit through her guardian, E.R. states that, under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), companies are prohibited from collecting, capturing, and disseminating biometric identifiers and information without providing written notice and without obtaining a written release from the impacted individual. 

In addition, the plaintiff notes that the BIPA also requires private entities that have collected biometric data to adopt retention and destruction policies as well as to take measures that the information is not released to the public.

TikTok videos allegedly scan a person's facial geometry.“Defendants’ violations of BIPA were intentional and reckless or, in the alternative, negligent,” says the TikTok class action lawsuit.

The plaintiff says that, as a result of the defendant’s misconduct, the plaintiff and putative Class Members do not have any recourse for the fact that their unique biometric data has been compromised.

“As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ violations of BIPA, plaintiff and Class Members have suffered and will continue to suffer injury,” the TikTok users class action lawsuit says.

Common questions of law and fact in the TikTok videos class action lawsuit include: 1) whether the defendants collected biometric identifier information from the plaintiff and Class Members; 2) whether the defendants disclosed or disseminated the plaintiff’s biometric identifiers and information. 3) whether the defendant profited from this biometric information; and 4) whether the defendant had in place a written retention and destruction policy required by BIPA.

Prospective Class Members include: “All Illinois residents who, within the applicable statute of limitations, registered for or used the TikTok Application when aged 14 through 17, and their parents and/or legal guardians.”

TikTok has recently paid out a $1 million class action settlement over similar privacy concerns.

Are you a TikTok user and are concerned about the company’s use of biometric data? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiff is represented by Katrina Carroll, Kyle A. Shamberg, and Nicholas R. Lange of Carson Lynch LLP

The TikTok Biometric Data Class Action Lawsuit is E.R. v. TikTok Inc., et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-02810, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

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236 thoughts onTikTok Users Says App Violates Privacy Law

  1. Roger L. Lott says:

    ADD ME IN

  2. Vanessa Dickinson says:

    Please add me my 13 year is active on it

  3. JeramyMoody says:

    Add me

  4. Helena Santana says:

    Add me

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