Chinese short-video platform TikTok and its parent company ByteTok could face a multi-billion pound claim in London’s High Court for allegedly illegally collecting the private data of millions of European children.
Reuters reports that Anne Longfield, formerly England’s children’s commissioner, said on the 21st that each of the affected children could receive thousands of pounds if they win the case. Anne Longfield is representing a 12-year-old girl who filed a class action lawsuit on condition of anonymity.
Anne Longfield noted that every child who has used TikTok since May 25, 2018, may have had their private information illegally collected by ByteTok through TikTok for the benefit of unknown third parties.
A TikTok representative countered this, saying that protecting privacy and security is a top priority for the company and that it has robust policies, processes and technology in place to help protect all users, especially teenage users. The representative said, “We believe these allegations lack merit and intend to defend them vigorously.”
The plaintiffs allege that TikTok violated U.K. and EU data protection laws by processing data of teenage users without adequate security measures, transparency, guardian consent or legitimate interests.
The lawsuit seeks to have TikTok delete the personal information of all child users, and damages could reach “billions of pounds” if the lawsuit is successful.
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