FTC refers TikTok complaint to the DOJ
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) referred a complaint against TikTok related to children's safety law violations to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the agency said Tuesday.
The complaint is based on a compliance review of TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly, following a 2019 settlement over violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection 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,” the FTC said in a statement.
The commission does not typically publicly announce if a complaint has been referred, as outlined in the FTC Act, but it did so “in the matter of public interest,” according to the statement.
The Hill reached out to a TikTok spokesperson for comment.
In 2019, TikTok agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle allegations that the company illegally collected personal information from children.
This year, TikTok has faced separate government pressure. In addition to facing questions from a Senate panel, alongside other tech companies, about kids’ safety, a law was passed in April that would ban TikTok if it is not sold from its Chinese-based parent company ByteDance.
TikTok filed a lawsuit in May that seeks to block the law, arguing it violates the First Amendment.