TikTok, Inc., which was formerly known as Musical.ly, Inc., has a remarkably popular app purportedly used every month by 1.5 billion people around the world. This class action brings suit against TikTok and ByteDance, Inc., alleging that the companies intercept private communications through the use of an in-app browser offered by TikTok.
The class for this action is all natural persons in the US who used TikTok’s in-app browser to visit websites external to the app.
The complaint quotes a saying from a 2017 article in the Economist: The “world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.” According to the complaint, “TikTok’s financial success is due in large part to its ability to obtain and utilize consumers’ personal financial information to create targeted advertising that it runs through the TikTok app.”
But the complaint also claims that TikTok has collected this personal information unlawfully, using “highly invasive and secretive practices” without the consent of its users.
How does it do this? The complaint alleges that when a person is using the TikTok app and clicks on a link, instead of using the person’s usual browser to go to the other website, TikTok deploys its own in-app browser to do so.
“TikTok’s in-app browser was specifically designed to insert JavaScript code into any third-party website that users access while using the in-app browser[,]” the complaint alleges. “The inserted JavaScript code, in turn, intercepts, records, and copies all Website Communications made by the user while interacting with the third-party website accessed using TikTok’s in-app browser.”
The recorded actions include every click or keystroke the user makes and all information entered while at the third-party website. Neither the user nor the third-party website have agreed to this insertion of code or collection of information.
The complaint alleges that concerns have been raised about TikTok’s collection of data before. In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brought a lawsuit against Musical.ly claiming it had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for collecting and using personal information from children under the age of 13. The following year, a lawsuit was filed against TikTok and related companies for violation of the Biometric Information Privacy Act.
Also in 2019, the complaint alleges that two senators wrote a letter to the Acting Director of National Intelligence asking for an investigation of the security risks posed by the TikTok app. The complaint cites the fact that the ByteDance parent company “is still required to adhere to the laws of China.” It also notes, “Security experts have voiced concerns that China’s vague patchwork of intelligence, national security, and cybersecurity laws compel Chinese companies to support and cooperate with intelligence work controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.”
Article Type: LawsuitTopic: Privacy
Most Recent Case Event
TikTok Surreptitiously Collects Users’ Private Information Complaint
February 10, 2023
TikTok, Inc., which was formerly known as Musical.ly, Inc., has a remarkably popular app purportedly used every month by 1.5 billion people around the world. This class action brings suit against TikTok and ByteDance, Inc., alleging that the companies intercept private communications through the use of an in-app browser offered by TikTok.
TikTok Surreptitiously Collects Users’ Private Information ComplaintCase Event History
TikTok Surreptitiously Collects Users’ Private Information Complaint
February 10, 2023
TikTok, Inc., which was formerly known as Musical.ly, Inc., has a remarkably popular app purportedly used every month by 1.5 billion people around the world. This class action brings suit against TikTok and ByteDance, Inc., alleging that the companies intercept private communications through the use of an in-app browser offered by TikTok.
TikTok Surreptitiously Collects Users’ Private Information Complaint