TikTok, despite being one of the most popular social media platforms globally due to its short video format, continues to face issues with the US government. The US government had previously demanded that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance be sold to another company due to national security concerns. Now, the platform faces a new legal battle for not protecting children’s data.
‘Child Mode’ Does Not Require Parental Consent
The US Department of Justice claims that TikTok allows children under the age of 13 to create accounts without parental consent and collects their personal data during this process. This action is alleged to violate US child privacy laws. According to the allegations, TikTok attracts children to the platform through ‘Child Mode‘ but does not seek parental approval when creating accounts in this mode. Although children cannot upload videos in this mode, they can watch them, and the platform collects some personal information, including IP addresses.
The platform also ignores parents’ requests to delete child accounts and the methods for age verification are said to be inadequate. All these allegations suggest that TikTok’s child protection policies are insufficient.
TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek refutes the accusations, stating that most of them are baseless or previously resolved issues. Haurek emphasizes that the company continuously works on protecting children. However, the Department of Justice‘s accusations are serious and the outcome of the case could significantly impact the platform’s future in the US. This legal battle between TikTok and the US government could force the company to make changes to its policies.