WASHINGTON, June 19 — The United States (US) Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has referred a complaint against the popular video-sharing app TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance to the Department of Justice, alleging that they failed to protect children's privacy, reported the German News Agency (dpa).
In a statement on Tuesday, the FTC indicated it had "uncovered reason to believe" that TikTok and ByteDance are "violating or are about to violate" the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
The regulator did not specify the details of the alleged violations in its statement.
The FTC noted that it typically does not make referrals of complaints public, but made an exception here in the public interest. It is responsible for consumer protection in the US and also plays an important role in competition policy.
TikTok rejected the allegations in a statement on X (formerly Twitter), noting it had been in talks with the FTC for more than a year.
"We are disappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution," it said, adding that many of the FTC's allegations related to past events and practices and were factually inaccurate or have been addressed.
In 2019, TikTok agreed to pay US$5.7 million (RM26.84 million) to settle FTC allegations against its predecessor company, Musical.ly, concerning the collection of data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent, in violation of US law.
— Bernama
