The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the social network of illegally collecting children’s data.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. This is reported On the Ministry of Justice website.

According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in California, TikTok violated a law that requires child-directed apps to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13.

“The defendants collected and stored extensive personal information about these children without informing or obtaining parental consent,” the Justice Department said in a statement – even for accounts created in “Kids Mode.” [«урезанная» версия TikTok, предназначенная для детей до 13 лет]Defendants illegally collected and stored children’s email addresses and other types of personal information.”

The lawsuit also states that TikTok has not complied with requests from parents who have expressed a desire to delete their children’s accounts.

“The Department of Justice is committed to supporting parents’ ability to protect their children’s privacy,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton.

TikTok has denied the allegations, saying many of them “relates to past events and practices that are factually untrue or have been altered.”

In a statement from TikTok, Post on social network XThe company said the platform provides “age-appropriate services, strict safety measures, and actively removes suspected underage users.” The company emphasized that it voluntarily launched a screen time limit feature and a family pairing feature that allows parents to link their own accounts with their children’s accounts.

In April 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation that would ban TikTok from the U.S. unless its China-based parent company ByteDance sells its U.S. operations by January 2025. The law came after U.S. lawmakers raised concerns that TikTok could threaten national security because Chinese authorities could collect data on Americans through the app.