FTC Refers TikTok Kids’ Privacy Complaint to DOJ

The FTC referred a complaint to DOJ against TikTok and parent company ByteDance for potential children’s privacy violations, the agency announced Thursday. The commission voted 3-0-2 to refer the complaint to the department. Republican Commissioners Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak, who joined the commission in March, were recused. The FTC’s investigation of the companies started during a compliance review associated with the agency’s 2019 settlement over Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act allegations against Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor, the commission said in a statement. In addition, the commission was investigating additional potential violations of COPPA and the FTC Act. “The investigation uncovered reason to believe named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest, so the Commission has voted to refer a complaint to the DOJ, according to the procedures outlined in the FTC Act,” the commission said. Typically, the FTC doesn't announce publicly that "it has referred a complaint," it said. However, "we have determined that doing so here is in the public interest.” The commission looks forward to collaborating with DOJ, the agency said. TikTok said in a statement Tuesday it’s worked with the FTC for more than a year to “address its concerns” and is “disappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution.” TikTok “strongly” disagrees with the allegations, which relate to “past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed,” the company said.