TIKTOK IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A group of House Democrats on Thursday called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate allegations that social media platform TikTok had violated a child privacy agreement.

Reps. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Ann Kuster (N.H.), and a dozen other Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to FTC Chairman Joseph Simons, asking that the FTC look into a complaint submitted earlier this month.

The complaint, which was submitted to the FTC by a group of 20 nonprofit groups, accused TikTok of violating a $5.7 million agreement reached with the FTC in 2019 that settled previous allegations that the company had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

The groups claimed that TikTok had violated the settlement by not deleting personal information collected from users under age 13, not posting a clear privacy policy and not making “reasonable efforts” to ensure the parents or guardians of users were aware of the information being collected.

The House Democrats raised concerns that TikTok’s popularity, which has spiked during COVID-19 lockdowns, may make the platform a tempting place for “predators to solicit children.”

“While all children must be careful when using a service like TikTok, children younger than 13 are less equipped to navigate this threat and are particularly vulnerable to abuse when their parents are uninformed about the application,” the lawmakers wrote. “There are inherent dangers whenever children are online, but as long TikTok is out of compliance with COPPA and the consent decree, young children are at heightened risk.”