(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has referred a complaint against ByteDance Inc.’s TikTok to the Justice Department, launching a potentially consequential government investigation into the company’s handling of user data.
Bloomberg’s Most Read
The FTC was investigating the social media company over possible violations of federal law protecting children on the Internet, as well as whether it violated a separate law that prohibits companies from using “unfair or deceptive” business practices.
“Our investigation found reason to believe that TikTok is violating or about to violate the FTC Act and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a social media post on Tuesday. .
The FTC was investigating the social media company over possible violations of federal law protecting children on the Internet, as well as whether it violated a separate law that prohibits companies from using “unfair or deceptive” business practices.
Representatives for TikTok and the FTC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
TikTok has faced enormous scrutiny in the US for years over ties between its parent company, ByteDance, and the Chinese government. President Joe Biden signed a law in April that would ban TikTok unless it was sold within a year. The company is challenging the law in court.
House lawmakers in a May letter asked the FTC to investigate whether TikTok had violated children’s online safety laws by sending pop-up notifications requesting users’ personal information and encouraged them to contact Congress about the TikTok ban.
In 2019, TikTok paid $5.7 million to resolve the FTC’s allegations that it had illegally collected children’s personal information, representing the largest civil penalty ever obtained by the commission in a children’s privacy case.
The agency continued to investigate the company, according to an FTC statement Wednesday.
“Although the commission does not normally make public the fact that it has forwarded a complaint, we have determined that doing so here is in the public interest,” the FTC said in the statement.
Bloomberg Businessweek Most Read
©2024 Bloomberg LP
