The FTC might sue TikTok over its handling of users’ privacy and security

TikTok, already preventing a proposed regulation that might result in a ban of the app in the US, might quickly additionally discover itself within the crosshairs of the Federal Commerce Fee. The FTC is near wrapping up a multiyear investigation into the corporate, which may lead to a lawsuit or main tremendous, Politico .

The investigation is reportedly centered across the app’s privateness and safety practices, together with its dealing with of youngsters’s consumer knowledge. In response to Politico, the FTC is trying into potential violations of the Youngsters’s On-line Privateness Safety Act (COPPA), in addition to “allegations that the corporate misled its customers by stating falsely that people in China wouldn’t have entry to U.S. consumer knowledge.” TikTok is also penalized for violating the phrases of its 2019 with regulators over knowledge privateness.

Whereas it’s not clear if the FTC’s investigation will lead to a lawsuit or different motion, the investigation is yet one more supply of stress for the corporate because it tries to safe its future in its largest market.. After a fast passage within the Home, the Senate is a invoice that may pressure TikTok’s mother or father firm, ByteDance, to promote the app or face an outright ban within the US. The Biden Administration, which has additionally tried to stress ByteDance to divest TikTok, is the measure and US intelligence officers have lawmakers on the alleged nationwide safety dangers posed by the app.

TikTok didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.