Former UK Children's Ombudsman Anne Longfield has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the electronic platform of illegally collecting personal data from underage users.
This is reported by The Guardian.
The former children's ombudsman claims that the app violates UK and Commonwealth privacy laws for minors.
The lawsuit states that TikTok uses children's personal information without proper warning or notifying the parents of underage users.
According to the rules of the site, teenagers over 13 years old can register on the platform.
However, last year Ofcom (the broadcast regulator) found that 42% of UK children between the ages of 8 and 12 are using TikTok.
According to Longfield, more than 3.5 million adolescents could be harmed by illegal data collection in the UK alone.
Longfield intends to stop the collection of personal information and achieve the elimination of the obtained data. In addition, she claims significant material compensation.
The administration of the social network deemed the accusations unfounded.
“Privacy and security are top priorities for TikTok, and we have robust policies, processes and technologies to help protect all users, in particular teenagers,” the company responded.
TikTok has highlighted its intention to vigorously defend itself in court.
Earlier it became known that the personal data of 1.3 million users of the Clubhouse social network were freely available on the Internet.
