TikTok is Under Investigation Over Collecting Data From Children

The famous social media platform TikTok has been alleged of violating its agreement with the Federal Trade Commission to safeguard the privacy of children on their platform.

The video-centred application had a settlement last year with the FTC after the owner company confessed to acquiring minor users’ data and breaking the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Despite that, it seems that Tik Tok could not comply with the set of rules for a long period of time.

TikTok is Under Investigation Over Collecting Data From Children

About twenty advocacy groups have alleged TikTok of violating child privacy regulations in the United States and hoovering up minors’ data in various complaints. The complaint was registered with the Federal Trade Commission by a group of 20 consumer and child advocacy groups.

According to the complaint, the video platform has not deleted the data as agreed. It states, “We found that TikTok currently has many regular account holders who are under age 13, and many of them still have videos of themselves that were uploaded as far back as 2016, years prior to the consent decree”.

Along with that, they also accused that TikTok has not received parental consent for these accounts. Contradictory to the terms of the consent declaration, TikTok disappoints to make reasonable efforts to assure that a parent of a child gets direct notice of its practices related to the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information.

Also, the group asked the FTC to start an investigation into TikTok and inflict penalties to ensure the children’s privacy is secure. In reply, a TikTok spokesperson stated on the media that “We take privacy seriously and are committed to helping ensure that TikTok continues to be a safe and entertaining community for our users”.

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