FTC Refers COPPA Complaint vs. Musical.ly, TikTok, ByteDance to DOJ

The FTC referred to the DOJ a complaint vs. TikTok, the successor to Musical.ly, and its parent company ByteDance, it said Tuesday in a statement. The FTC’s investigation of the companies began in connection with its order compliance review of Musical.ly following a 2019 settlement for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), it said. The commission investigated additional potential violations of COPPA and the FTC Act, uncovering “reason to believe named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest,” it said. TikTok said in a statement Tuesday it’s been working with the FTC for more than a year to “address its concerns” and is “disappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution.” TikTok “strongly” disagrees with the allegations, which relate to “past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed,” the company said. The FTC doesn’t typically make public when it refers a complaint but determined that doing so in this case was in the public interest, it said.