The Federal Trade Commission has referred a complaint against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, to the Department of Justice.
said in a statement Tuesday that it investigated the two companies and 鈥渦ncovered reason to believe鈥 they are 鈥渧iolating or are about to violate鈥 the Children鈥檚 Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law which requires to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.
The agency also cited potential violations of the FTC Act, the law that outlines its enforcement responsibilities.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment on the substance of the referral from the FTC against TikTok. 鈥淐onsistent with our normal approach, the Justice Department consulted with FTC in advance of this referral and will continue to do so as we consider the claims. As always, the Department will be guided by the facts and the law as well as our responsibility to protect the American people,鈥 the spokesperson said.
A person familiar with the matter in March that the agency was looking into whether TikTok violated a prohibition against 鈥渦nfair and deceptive鈥 business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data.
TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said the company has been working with the FTC for more than a year to address its concerns and was 鈥渄isappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution."
鈥淲e strongly disagree with the FTC鈥檚 allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed,鈥 Haurek said in a statement.
The FTC said its investigation began in connection with a compliance review of a 2019 settlement between the agency and Musical.y, that was acquired by ByteDance in 2017. Under the settlement, Musical.y agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve allegations that the company violated the children鈥檚 privacy law.
The agency said that while it does not typically publicize complaints that are referred to the DOJ, it determined doing so this time was "in the public interest.鈥
Citing , U.S. lawmakers passed a law in April that requires TikTok to be sold to an approved buyer or face a nationwide ban. TikTok and Beijing-based ByteDance to overturn the law, which .
