Senators urge FTC to investigate TikTok child privacy issues

A bipartisan group of four senators on Friday urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate allegations that TikTok violated child privacy commitments it made to resolve a prior complaint.

The short-form video-sharing platform last year agreed to settle with the agency over charges that one of its predecessors, Musical.ly, violated the federal law governing privacy safeguards for children online.

Under the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, developers of apps geared toward children cannot collect personally identifiable information on users under the age of 13 without consent from parents or legal guardians.

The complaint, which also resulted in a $5.7 million fine, alleged the company collected without consent the names, emails and videos of users under the age of 13.

TikTok agreed as part of the settlement to obtain parental permission before collecting personal information and to delete any information about users identified as under 13.

Earlier this month, 20 children’s and consumer advocacy groups filed a complaint with the FTC alleging that TikTok violated the privacy commitments made in the settlement.