TikTok is one of several social media apps that have recently come under scrutiny for child safety. A legal claim has been brought against TikTok regarding how it collects and uses the data of child users on its app in the UK and EU. The claim follows a similar issue that TikTok faced with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) back in 2019.

TikTok is a giant social media platform and has become the dominant player in the short video market. It currently has over 800 million monthly users active on the app and saw over two billion downloads in 2020. Although TikTok is popular amongst many young audiences thanks to its video creation tools, it has faced issues in the past over data collection — and over the data it collects about young users specifically. In 2019, ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, paid $5.7 million to the FTC for collecting data about children without consent.

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As reported by the BBC, the new legal claim states that users on the TikTok app, regardless of whether they had an account or not, may have had their information collected and sold to third parties. The claim relates to users under 16 and under 13 in the UK or EU, stating that TikTok violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is the EU and UK’s data protection law. It was launched by the former Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield OBE and focuses on TikTok’s lack of transparency about how much data was collected and processed along with where this data goes. If successful, the case could cost TikTok billions of dollars.

Are Young TikTok Users Safe?

TikTok privacy graphic

As of now, the issue looks like it has the ability to become a pretty severe case against TikTok. With the platform collecting data such as phone numbers, device locations, and uploaded videos, any misuse of this data or profit being made off of it could seriously impact its credibility. Along with the previous fine by the FTC and other FTC investigations into data collection and use, the claim could have serious ramifications for TikTok if proven true.

As the case is waiting to be heard by the UK Supreme Court, there are still questions about whether children are safe on the TikTok app. While there is no direct threat to child safety, the premise of the case does suggest that the data of users under the age of 13 may not be entirely safe on TikTok.

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Source: BBC