FTC files complaint against TikTok for alleged data privacy practices

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) referred a complaint against TikTok to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Tuesday, saying in a statement that the agency has “uncovered reason to believe named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest.”

The findings stem from a “compliance review” of TikTok’s practices following a 2019 settlement with its predecessor, Musical.ly, on charges that it illegally gathered personal data from children.

The latest FTC complaint is not yet public. 

Musical.ly paid $5.7 million to resolve the 2019 FTC enforcement action, which centered on violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). 

The FTC complaint in that case alleged that Musical.ly collected the full names; online contact information; direct message contents; photos and videos containing a child’s image and voice; and geolocation information.

While the FTC does not typically alert the public when it files lawsuits, its Tuesday statement said it believed that “doing so here is in the public interest.”

The statement said the agency has recently investigated “additional potential violations of COPPA and the FTC Act,” but did not specify which element of the act it focused on.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department said in a statement that it “cannot comment on the substance of the referral from the FTC against TikTok.”

“Consistent with our normal approach, the Justice Department consulted with FTC in advance of this referral and will continue to do so as we consider the claims,” they said.

The agency’s most recent investigation of TikTok centers on violations of the children’s privacy rule as well as alleged “faulty privacy and data security practices,” according to a March Politico report previewing Tuesday’s announcement. 

The Politico report said the agency was “weighing allegations that TikTok, and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance, deceived its users by denying that individuals in China had access to their data,” citing three people with direct knowledge of the matter.

In May, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, called for the FTC to investigate whether TikTok had violated the COPPA rule or other laws.

That appeal to Chair Lina Khan came weeks after Congress passed legislation that would force ByteDance to sell the social media platform or be banned in the U.S.

“TikTok has previously violated children’s data privacy laws,” Moolenaar and the committee’s ranking member wrote to Khan. “We are gravely concerned that an app controlled by the Chinese Communist Party appears to have the unfettered ability to manipulate the American public, including America’s children.”