TikTok has reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve a lawsuit from the Biden administration that accused the social media platform of collecting personal information from children in violation of federal privacy rules.
The case revolves around the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a U.S. law that gives children under 13 additional privacy protections online. Among other requirements, the law generally requires companies to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from young children.
The Justice Department had accused TikTok of allowing children under 13 to use the platform while collecting their personal information without meeting those requirements. The government also alleged that TikTok did not always properly respond when parents asked the company to remove their children’s accounts and delete their information.
TikTok deal resolves case
The agreement now gives TikTok a path toward resolving those allegations, although the broader questions around how social media platforms handle children’s data are unlikely to disappear.
The issue is particularly relevant for TikTok because of the platform’s huge popularity among younger users. TikTok’s standard rules generally require users to be at least 13, but enforcing age restrictions online is notoriously difficult.
Children can sometimes provide a false date of birth when signing up, making it harder for platforms to determine whether an account actually belongs to someone under the legal age.
Once children get onto a platform, the amount of information generated can quickly add up. Depending on the service and its features, this can include account information, device details and information about how users interact with the app.
COPPA is designed to give parents greater control over that information. Companies covered by the law have obligations around parental consent and must provide mechanisms for parents to review or delete their children’s personal information in certain circumstances.
That is what makes the Justice Department’s case significant beyond TikTok. It raises a much broader question for the technology industry: How effectively are social media companies actually protecting children who manage to get around age restrictions?
Scrutiny grows over social media’s impact on kids
The agreement also comes at a time when social media platforms are facing increasing scrutiny over their treatment of younger users. Regulators and lawmakers are looking at everything from children’s privacy and targeted advertising to recommendation algorithms and the potential effects of social media use on minors.
For TikTok, resolving this particular case could remove one legal problem from its plate. But it does not mean the company’s regulatory challenges in the U.S. are over. TikTok continues to face scrutiny on several fronts, including data privacy and national security.
For other technology companies, meanwhile, the case serves as another warning that children’s online privacy is becoming a bigger enforcement priority.
At the heart of the dispute is a relatively straightforward principle: children’s data receives extra protection under U.S. law, and companies are expected to make a genuine effort to keep those protections in place.
TikTok’s agreement with the Justice Department moves the company closer to putting this particular lawsuit behind it, but the wider debate over how social media platforms should protect young users is likely to continue.
