TikTok Will Pay $92 Million to Settle U.S. Data Privacy Lawsuits

The Chinese company ByteDance, the owner of the TikTok short-video service, agreed to pay $92 million in a class action lawsuit over privacy violations of certain American TikTok users. The settlement, which still requires court approval, was reached after expert examination of the TikTok source code, as well as extensive mediation efforts.

TikTok has over 100 million users in the United States. According to documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Illinois, ByteDance has agreed to a settlement after more than a year of litigation.

China Punishes ByteDance for Vulgar and Problematic Content

In China, the Cyberspace Administration conducted a large-scale check of the largest video platforms, revealing many violations in their work. As a result, sanctions (including fines) were imposed on the services, and TikTok’s developer was among them.

The Internet ProtocolKay Lee

TikTok officials noted that they disagree with the claims, but prefer to focus on providing a safe and interesting environment for the TikTok user community, rather than engaging in lengthy legal disputes.

“While we disagree with the assertions, rather than go through lengthy litigation, we’d like to focus our efforts on building a safe and joyful experience for the TikTok community,” TikTok’s representative said Thursday.

TikTok Tracked Android User Data Using Prohibited Google Tactic

TikTok tracked MAC addresses from millions of Android devices, which violated Google’s privacy policy. Google representatives refused to comment on the system’s vulnerability.

The Internet ProtocolKay Lee

The lawsuit claimed that TikTok collects a wide range of personal user data, including biometric data, without the knowledge of American users. According to the plaintiffs, the application profiles and tracks users to target ads and generate revenue. More than twenty cases have been consolidated in the class action, with some claims being filed on behalf of users who are barely eight years old. The plaintiffs argue that the personal data collected by TikTok was then transferred to third parties without the knowledge of users. Moreover, this data was processed on some servers in China.

At the same time, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating whether the company has complied with the 2019 agreement to protect children's privacy.

ByteDance Sued for Collecting Data of Kids | The Internet Protocol

TikTok’s parent company called ByteDance was accused of collecting children’s data from Musical.ly without their parents’ consent.

The Internet ProtocolKay Lee

Last year, U.S. authorities announced plans to block TikTok in the U.S., claiming the app threatens the country's national security. In an effort to avoid blocking, ByteDance agreed to sell its U.S. assets to Oracle and Walmart.

How to Bypass TikTok Ban in Case It Gets Blocked

Using a VPN to have access to TikTok will help you protect yourself, and your data will remain hidden so that no one could trace you.

The Internet ProtocolKay Lee

Under the terms of the deal, ByteDance was required to register the American independent company TikTok Global. 20% of this company should have been owned by U.S resident enterprises, the remaining 80% would have been retained by ByteDance.

Plans changed after Joe Biden became the country's new president. To date, ByteDance has pulled out of its deal with Oracle and Walmart. The new administration plans to conduct its own assessment of the security risks of TikTok users' data in the United States.