TikTok Allegedly Collects, Uses Children's Data Without Sufficient Warning; Faces Multi-Billion Class-Action Case

The popular video social media app TikTok is now facing a multi-billion class-action lawsuit on how it processes children's data within the U.K. and the European Union (EU). The legal claim was filed against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance by Anne Longfield, a former Children's Commissioner for England.

On April 21, Longfield shared on Twitter that she is "launching a legal claim against @tiktok_uk on behalf of millions of children whose data was illegally taken and transferred to unknown third parties for profit." The former commissioner is backing a claim made by the law firm Scott + Scott that demands TikTok to delete all children's information it has collected from the U.K. and EU users, as well as pay compensation.

The lawsuit claims that TikTok is in violation of the U.K. and EU Child Protection Law and does not have permission to harvest and process children's personal data. Moreover, the lawsuit alleges that the app collects data without sufficient warning. Details about the alleged collected information include videos, pictures, location and videos of children.

The multi-billion class-action lawsuit against TikTok is filed on behalf of all children who have used the video social media app since May 25, 2018. In an interview with BBC, Longfield said that she is focusing on TikTok because the app has "excessive" data collection policies. "TikTok is a hugely popular social media platform that has helped children keep in touch with their friends during an incredibly difficult year."

But, she clarified that "behind the fun songs, dance challenges and lip-sync trends lies something far more sinister." Longfield described TikTok as "a data collection service that is thinly veiled as a social network" and over the years, has "deliberately and successfully deceived parents."

She further said in the interview that "TikTok and ByteDance's advertising revenue is built on the personal information of its users, including children. Profiting from this information without fulfilling its legal obligations, and its moral duty to protect children online, is unacceptable."

A TikTok representative believes that the claims in the class-action lawsuit "lack merit." He adds that "Privacy and safety are top priorities for TikTok and we have robust policies, processes and technologies in place to help protect all users, and our teenage users in particular." Furthermore, the representative reveals that TikTok intends to "vigorously defend the action."

This is not the first time that the video social media app and ByteDance Ltd. are caught in a controversy. Over the years, TikTok has faced various claims over its data collection process. TikTok's Musical.ly was slapped with a $5.7 million fine by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for mishandling children's data. The company has been subject to an investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office in the U.K. and has been fined in South Korea on the way it collects children's data.