House Panel Asks FTC to Investigate Whether TikTok Violated Child Protection Law

The leaders of a bipartisan panel focused on China sent a letter asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether TikTok violated child protection laws in its efforts to stop the United States from banning the app.

The letter, obtained by The Hill and first reported by NBC Newsis addressed to FTC Chair Lina Khan and asks the organization to examine whether the app violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), or Section 5 of the FTC Act, when it sent pop-up notifications to users who requested personal information and asked them to contact Congress.

Republican Chinese Communist Party House Select Committee Chairman John Moolenarr (Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said the TikTok messages were sent to schoolchildren and others under the age of 13.

“Solicitation of children using misleading and inflammatory information has resulted in at least one case of threatening self-harm, with one Congressional office reporting a call from a child threatening suicide,” the letter said.

The letter follows the passage of the Controlled Applications of Foreign Adversaries Act. Congress worked to pass the controversial legislation because the app’s owner, ByteDance, is based in Beijing. President Biden signed the bill, meaning ByteDance will have up to a year to sell the app or face a ban in US app stores.

While the bill was being discussed, TikTok sent a pop-up message to its US users urging them to call Congress and oppose the bill and to “stop the shutdown of TikTok.”

“Speak up now – before your government strips 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free speech,” the message said. “It will harm millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and deny artists audiences.”

In the letter, the lawmakers said they were concerned that an app controlled by the Chinese Communist Party “appears to have the unfettered ability to manipulate the American public, including American children.”

According to FTC website, the COPPA rule does not require “operators of general public websites to investigate the age of visitors to their websites or services.” TikTok said it sent the notification only to users over 18 and that users had “multiple options to dismiss” the notification.

Section 5 of the FTC Act declares unfair or deceptive acts illegal. According to a letter According to the FTC’s policy statement on deception, TikTok’s notification would be considered illegal if it is “likely to affect the consumer’s conduct or decision regarding the product or service.” TikTok said it did not violate Section 5 as users were receiving the notification because they were already users of the app to begin with.

“It is disheartening that members of Congress are expressing concern simply because they heard their own constituents imploring them not to pass a bill that tramples on their First Amendment rights,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill.

Krishnamoorthi declined to comment further. The Hill reached out to Moolenaar and the FTC.