The TikTok logo appears outside the US headquarters in Culver City, California, USA on September 15, 2020. REUTERS / Mike Blake / File Photo
TikTok, the hugely popular video app, and its Chinese father ByteDance could face a billions of pounds (dollars) in damages lawsuits in the London High Court over the allegations they collected. legally the private data of millions of European children.
Anne Longfield, England’s former children’s commissioner and the so-called “friend of the litigation”, or public face, of an anonymous 12-year-old girl leading the class action, said Wednesday that the affected children could receive thousands of free each if the claim is successful.
Longfield alleged that all children who have used TikTok since May 25, 2018, may have private personal information illegally collected by ByteDance through TikTok for the benefit of unknown third parties.
“Parents and children have a right to know that private information, including their children’s phone numbers, physical location and videos, is collected illegally,” he said, while a website was published detailing the case.
A TikTok representative said privacy and security were the company’s top priorities and that it had sound policies, processes and technologies to protect all users, especially teenagers.
“We believe the claims have no merit and we intend to vigorously defend the action,” the representative said.
TikTok is one of the most popular applications in the world, especially among young people, and has around 100 million users in Europe alone. The COVID-19 pandemic, which locked many children at home, has helped consolidate its success.
But the plaintiffs, advised by the law firm Scott & Scott, allege that TikTok violated data protection laws in the UK and the European Union by processing young people’s data without proper security measures, transparency, consent of the guardians or legitimate interests.
The claim requires the company to delete all of the children’s personal information and states that the damages can amount to “billions of pounds” if they are successful.
These U.S.-style data privacy class actions, which “automatically link” a defined group to a lawsuit, unless people do, are rare in Britain.
The case has been put on hold pending a ruling by the UK Supreme Court in a case against Internet giant Google (GOOGL.O) for allegedly illegally tracking iPhone users in 2011 and 2012 through third-party cookies.
This case will be known next week.
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