According to a person familiar with the situation, TikTok is the target of an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission about its data and security policies. The investigation may result in a settlement or legal action against the company.
This inquiry is the social media business’s newest fight in Washington; it is already up against a federal measure that may outlaw the platform in the United States if it doesn’t sever links with its parent company, ByteDance, which is based in Beijing.
According to the person, who is not authorized to discuss the investigation, the FTC has been investigating whether TikTok violated a section of federal law that forbids “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that people in China have access to user data from users in the United States.
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The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act mandates that kid-friendly apps and websites obtain parental approval before collecting personal information of children under the age of thirteen. The government is also closely examining the company for possible violations of this law.
Politico was the first outlet to report on the probe; both TikTok and FTC spokesperson Nicole Drayton declined to comment.
The government may reach a settlement with TikTok in the upcoming weeks as it draws to a close on its inquiry. However, the individual stated that there isn’t a timeframe for an agreement.
If the FTC decides to proceed with a lawsuit instead, it must recommend the matter to the Justice Department, which has 45 days to determine whether to file the case on the FTC’s behalf, make modifications, or return it to the agency for independent investigation.
The news comes almost two years after Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Mark Warner, the chairman of the committee, urged FTC chair Lina Khan to look into TikTok. They cited a Buzzfeed News report claiming that ByteDance employees in China had repeatedly accessed data on U.S. TikTok users.
ByteDance announced in late 2022 that it had let go of four workers who had obtained journalistic data from Buzzfeed News and The Financial Times in the course of investigating leaks of private corporate documents.
This month, the House passed legislation that may decide TikTok’s future in the United States. However, the Senate has already put up obstacles to the bill since there isn’t much agreement on how to handle issues with the social media site.
Lawmakers and intelligence officials have expressed concern that the Chinese government would use the platform to obtain user data from Americans or utilize its well-known algorithm to sway Americans. The American administration hasn’t shown any proof of this to the public as of yet.
