The TikTok emblem is displayed at TikTok workplaces on March 12, 2024 in Culver Metropolis, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Pictures
The Federal Commerce Fee mentioned Tuesday that it is referred its grievance towards TikTok and Chinese language guardian ByteDance to the U.S. Division of Justice.
The FTC started its investigation following a 2019 settlement with Musical.ly, the predecessor to TikTok, that was associated to violations of the Youngsters’s On-line Privateness Safety Act (COPPA). The FTC was probing to see if TikTok violated a federal legislation that prohibits “unfair and misleading” enterprise practices.
The regulator mentioned it is transferring the case to the DOJ as a result of the investigation “uncovered purpose to consider named defendants are violating or are about to violate the legislation.”
“Though the Fee doesn’t usually make public the truth that it has referred a grievance, we have now decided that doing so right here is within the public curiosity and {that a} continuing is within the public curiosity,” the FTC mentioned.
At a Senate listening to in January, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew mentioned the corporate employs round 40,000 folks in its belief and security operations, however added that he did not know what number of minors had been customers of the platform.
TikTok did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
The corporate faces different challenges within the U.S.
In Might, TikTok sued the U.S. authorities after President Biden signed laws that provides ByteDance 9 months to discover a purchaser and a 3 month extension if a deal is in progress. Within the absence of a deal, the short-form video app might be banned.
TikTok mentioned the invoice violates the First Modification, and that divestiture is “merely not potential: not commercially, not technologically, not legally,” in keeping with a authorized submitting.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
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