TikTok Child Privacy Violations  – Class Action Investigation

Chimicles Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith is investigating a potential class action lawsuit against TikTok for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) by collecting the personally identifiable information of minors who used TikTok when they were younger than14 without parental consent.

TikTok, a popular social media platform and multi-billion dollar business, with millions of users under the age of 14, is reported to have violated COPPA and failed to comply with a 2019 court order from an earlier lawsuit by the federal government over the privacy of minors.  This investigation comes on the heels of another suit filed by the Department of Justice in August 2024 also alleging that TikTok violated COPPA including failing to honor parent’s requests to delete their children’s accounts and information.

When users create a TikTok account, the site requires them to state their date of birth. If they are younger than 14, they obtain a “kids mode” account, but their parents are not notified that they are using the site. It is believed that TikTok may have collected the following data from your child and sold access to the information without obtaining the necessary express parental consent:

• name,
• age
• profile image
• password
• email
• phone number
• address
• approximate location
• social media account information
• phone and social media contacts
• messages exchanged with other TikTok users
• payment card numbers

If your child used TikTok when they were 13 or younger and you did not give TikTok express consent to collect your child’s personal information, please complete the form below to provide us with more information so that we can speak with you directly.