Justice Department sues TikTok, accusing the company of violating a children's online privacy law

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.

The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.

The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.

The U.S. decided to file the lawsuit following an investigation by the FTC that looked into whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.

In 2019, the federal government sued Musical.ly, alleging it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to notify parents about its collection and use of personal information for kids under 13.

That same year, Musical.ly — acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok — agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve those allegations. The two companies were also subject to a court order requiring them to comply with COPPA, which the government says hasn’t happened.

In the complaint, the Justice Department and the FTC allege TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create accounts and retained their personal information without notifying their parents. This practice extends to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok for children under 13, Justice said in a press release explaining the lawsuit.

The two agencies allege the information collected included activities on the app and other identifiers used to build user profiles. They also accuse TikTok of sharing the data with other companies – such as Meta’s Facebook and an analytics company called AppsFlyer – to persuade “Kids Mode” users to be on the platform more, a practice TikTok called “re-targeting less active users.”

The complaint says TikTok also allowed children to create accounts without having to provide their age, or obtain parental approval, by using credentials from third-party services. It classified these as “age unknown” accounts, which the agencies say have grown into millions.

After parents discovered some of their children’s accounts and asked for them to be deleted, federal officials said their requests were not honored. In a press release explaining the lawsuit, Justice said the alleged violations have resulted in millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, allowing them to interact with adults and access adult content.

In March, a person with the matter had told the AP the FTC’s investigation was also looking into whether TikTok violated a portion of federal law that prohibits “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data.

Those allegations were not included in the complaint, which is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief.

FILE - The icon for the video sharing TikTok app is seen on a smartphone, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Russia’s Federal Security Service on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said a decision has been made to withdraw their accreditation.

Russian state TV quoted an official from the security service known as the FSB as saying that they will be expelled. The expulsions come as Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks with President Joe Biden that will include Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia.

Starmer said on his way to the U.S. that Britain does not “seek any conflict with Russia.” “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away,” he told reporters.

“Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense — we’re providing training capability, as you know. But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” he said.

The FSB said it received documents indicating that the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the U.K. Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.”

Based on these documents and “in response to numerous unfriendly steps by London,” the Russian Foreign Ministry withdrew the accreditation of the diplomats, the FSB said, without identifying them. It warned that if other diplomats are found to be carrying out “similar actions,” the agency “will demand early termination of their missions” to Russia.

Russian state TV said in a report that the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared “foreign agents” — a label the Russian authorities have actively used against organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin.

The British Embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. There was no immediate comment from Britain's Foreign Office.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an online statement that “We fully agree with the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB. The British Embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna Conventions." She said the diplomats were carrying out “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.”

Expulsions of diplomats — both Western diplomats working in Russia and Russian diplomats working in Western countries — have become increasingly common since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian news outlet RBC counted last year that Western countries and Japan expelled a total 670 Russian diplomats between the beginning of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow expelled 346 diplomats in response. According to RBC, it was more than in the previous 20 years combined.

In May the U.K. expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying.

FILE - The British Embassy building, center, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building, second right, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

FILE - Birds fly with the British Embassy building at center in the background in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)