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The Department of Justice is suing TikTok<\/a> for allegedly letting kids under 13 make accounts without their parents\u2019 permission and collecting \u201cextensive data\u201d on them, in violation of US child privacy law.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The DOJ claims that TikTok knowingly let kids onto its platform through its \u201cKids Mode,\u201d collected their information, and failed to delete their accounts at their parents\u2019 requests, in violation of the Children\u2019s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). When a kid under 13 entered their age on the app, they\u2019d be prompted to enter a username, which doesn\u2019t contain personal information, and it would create a Kids Mode account for the user. But the app wouldn\u2019t notify parents or get their consent. Kids can\u2019t upload videos in that mode, but they can view videos; the DOJ alleges that TikTok collected some personal information on them as part of this process, like unique device identifiers and IP addresses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The lawsuit alleges that TikTok\u2019s age-gating techniques \u201care deficient in multiple ways.\u201d Under an earlier practice, TikTok would let users restart the account creation process even if they\u2019d originally entered a birthday showing they\u2019re under 13, according to the complaint. TikTok also used to let users log in through Instagram or Google, which would categorize the accounts as \u201cage unknown,\u201d the DOJ alleges. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The DOJ says TikTok has let millions of kids use its platform but said it\u2019s hard to pin down the exact scale of its violations because it didn\u2019t comply with a requirement from a 2019 injunction to keep records on its COPPA compliance. The DOJ is asking the court to prevent TikTok from violating COPPA in the future and pay civil penalties for each violation. Under the FTC Act, civil penalties can go up to $51,744 per violation, per day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n