/>iWe have previously outlined the risks of using TikTok, the federal and state governments’ ban on it, and the national security risks it presents.
In doing so, we primarily focused on data privacy and security threats to TikTok users. Recently, Nebraska and the U.S. Department of Justice each sued TikTok directly for different allegations relevant to the use of TikTok by children. The allegations made in the complaints are heartbreaking and detailed below.
State of Nebraska Complaint
The complaint against TikTok in Nebraska, led by the state Attorney General’s consumer protection division, details how TikTok is marketed to young children and self-acclaimed as “addicting.” Internal documents obtained show that the owners of TikTok purposefully market its use to children under the age of 13 as they lack the executive decision-making ability to limit its use. This excessive use of TikTok is precisely what the app’s owners are striving to achieve. Young TikTok users admit they are addicted, and statistics show that they use TikTok into the wee hours of the morning. Even more disturbing is the content that TikTok appears to be purposefully pushing to young children—harmful content, including “mature and inappropriate content, content related to eating disorders, sadness and suicide, and pornography.” On top of that, the complaint alleges that it is “incredibly difficult” to delete an account.
The complaint alleges that TikTok is harmful and dangerous to children and youth, including “increased rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness, low self-esteem, and suicide, interfering with sleep and education, fueling body dysmorphia and eating disorders, and contributing to youth addiction.” The complaint alleges that TikTok: is misrepresenting that it is safe for use; is engaging in deceptive and unfair acts and practices in violation of the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act and Deceptive Trade Practice Act; and has false or misleading statements in its privacy policy. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, civil fines and penalties, and disgorgement of all profits made in Nebraska.
We will be watching this litigation closely, including other states that may follow suit.
Department of Justice Complaint
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has also recently filed suit against TikTok. The DOJ’s suit concentrates on TikTok’s alleged violations of the federal statute known as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The allegations in the complaint detail how TikTok allows children under the age of 13 to register for a TikTok account that is not in “Kids Mode” and can easily evade the platform’s processes to determine the user’s age. Further, a user under the age of 13 can open an account without parental consent or through Instagram or Google, which the DOJ alleges is a violation of COPPA.
Similar to allegations outlined in Nebraska’s complaint, the DOJ complaint outlines how TikTok makes it very difficult to delete accounts and has “obstructed and failed to honor” parents’ request for deletion and return of their children’s account, personal information, and data collected by the app. The complaint alleges that TikTok failed to delete and continued to collect data from children despite deletion requests from parents. According to the complaint, TikTok retains users’ data “long after purportedly deleting their accounts.”
The complaint alleges that TikTok has insufficient internal policies to flag underage users and that TikTok does not follow its own policies to monitor the platform for underage users, thereby allowing “millions of children” under the age of 13 to be able to use the platform without parental consent in violation of COPPA.
The DOJ complaint further alleges that TikTok has violated the 2019 consent order entered into by TikTok and the Federal Trade Commission by not maintaining records evidencing compliance with its terms. It further alleges that TikTok misrepresented its remedial conduct by failing to ensure that all U.S.-based accounts were routed through an age gate and that it had deleted children’s data in May of 2020. TikTok later admitted that the representation was false.
The DOJ seeks injunctive relief, fines, and penalties for TikTok’s violation of COPPA. If you are a parent whose child is using TikTok, take a look at the complaints. They will give you details of how harmful using TikTok is for your child, and TikTok’s lack of adherence to its own processes to minimize its use by young children.
