The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Justice Department are looking into allegations that popular app TikTok failed to live up to a 2019 agreement aimed at protecting children’s privacy, according to two people interviewed by the agencies.
A member of a Massachusetts tech policy group and another source said they took part in separate conference calls with FTC and Justice Department officials to discuss accusations the China-based short video sharing app had failed to live up to an agreement announced in February 2019.
The Center for Digital Democracy, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and others in May asked the FTC look into their allegations TikTok failed to delete videos and personal information about users age 13 and younger as it had agreed to do, among other violations.
A TikTok spokesman said they take, “safety seriously for all our users. They accommodate users under 13 in a limited app experience that introduces additional safety and privacy protections designed specifically for a younger audience.”
David Monahan, a campaign manager with the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood said, “Officials from both the FTC, which reached the original consent agreement with TikTok, and Justice Department, which often files court documents for the FTC, met via video with representatives of the groups to discuss the matter. I got the sense from our conversation that they are looking into the assertions that we raised in our complaint.”
