TikTok still ends up in the crosshairs. Former children’s commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, has waged a legal battle against the social network over how it collects and uses children’s data.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of millions of children in the UK and the European Union who used the video app that has become popular around the world. Precisely on behalf of all the children who have used TikTok since May 25, 2018 (obviously those who are not interested can give up).
TikTok said they have nothing to fear and are ready for legal warfare. In the event of defeat, however, he may also have to pay cash compensation to the children involved. According to Ofcom, 44% of children between the ages of 8 and 12 in the UK use TikTok, despite its policies prohibiting access to children under 13.
The accusation that the lawyers will present is that TikTok takes children’s personal information (videos, phone numbers, exact location and biometric data) without sufficient transparency and without the children or parents knowing what is being done with their information.
However, the social network defends itself: “Privacy and security are top priorities for TikTok and we have solid policies, processes and technologies to protect all users, especially teenagers”. Anne Longfield told the BBC that “TikTok has excessive data collection policies.”
The cause, however, is not an isolated case. A similar lawsuit against TikTok – also backed by Longfield – was filed anonymously by a 12-year-old girl last year. In 2019, however, the Chinese company was fined a record $ 5.7 million by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for mishandling children’s data.