TikTok has settled more than twenty privacy class actions in the United States.
In these privacy cases, TikTok was accused of flouting American privacy laws by secretly collecting and profiting from private information from American TikTok users without permission and sharing it with third parties (including Facebook and Google). Examples of personal information collected by TikTok in the app are biometric data (such as a face scan), geolocation and videos that were recorded through the app but not made public (and therefore not ‘saved’ or ‘shared’).
In addition to the damages that TikTok will pay (USD 92 million), TikTok will implement various changes for its American users. For example, TikTok will no longer:
- use the app to collect or store a user’s biometric information;
- use the app to collect geolocation or GPS data;
- use the app to transmit user data outside of the United States;
- store user data in databases outside of the United States;
- upload user-generated content to the app’s servers before the user stores or publishes it.
If TikTok does wish to carry out these activities, it must expressly disclose this in its privacy policy.
TBYP is of the opinion that TikTok should implement these changes (adapted to the European privacy legislation) not only for its American users, but also for its Dutch users and certainly for minors. TBYP has started an action against TikTok in the Netherlands, in cooperation with the Consumentenbond, for violating the privacy and consumer rules. You can still join this action! Click here for more information and to sign up.