TikTok to pay $92m to settle class-action lawsuit on severe privacy violations

By Jay Jay for teiss
Friday, February 26, 2021

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Earlier this year, TikTok agreed to strengthen its privacy controls for young users. Eric Han, TikTok's Head of US Safety, said that users within the age group of 13-15 will have private accounts by default with limited access to viewers and who can comment on their profiles. TikTok also introduced a mandatory age restriction of 16 years and above for users who could join Duet, a video collaboration feature, and Stitch, a feature to 'remix' content by picking elements out of an original clip.

Commenting on the settlement between TikTok and 89 million US citizens, Ilia Kolochenko, founder and CEO of ImmuniWeb, said that if approved by the judge, it will be a very favourable settlement for the wealthy defendant despite the comparatively large amount.

“The alleged conduct likely violates a wide spectrum of the US state and federal laws, and it seems that some private plaintiffs and state attorneys general didn’t participate in the lawsuit because of the pandemic. Importantly, this settlement does not preclude other claims TikTok may get in the future from plaintiffs who didn’t participate in the class action.

“In any case, however, this settlement is a colourful example that lack of transparency or questionable privacy practices will not be tolerated in the US anymore. The US now vigorously follows the EU way of strong privacy protection, both on federal and state level, whereas California is a North Star for other states.

“Under Joe Biden's administration, we will expect more regulatory scrutiny and probably even a federal privacy law for all 50 states. They should, however, be prudent not to overregulate and make the business of some companies impossible by new compliance costs,” he added. Read Full Article