TikTok is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit that alleges the social media app did not disclose the scale or scope of personal information it collects from Canadian users, or disclose how that data was used to sell targeted advertising.
The proposed lawsuit alleges no TikTok privacy policy disclosed to users that “TikTok was combining and categorizing the personal information it collected on them in order to create detailed profiles.”
The lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of B.C. on Nov. 14, on behalf of a British Columbia resident and TikTok users across Canada. It names parent company ByteDance as a defendant, alongside TikTok and TikTokâs Canadian division. It also suggests a proposed subclass of victims: children. None of the suitâs allegations have yet been proven in court, and the lawsuit has not yet been certified.
Earlier this fall, provincial and federal privacy watchdogs released a report that found TikTok had taken âinadequate measuresâ to keep children off its platformâresulting in the collection of personal and potentially sensitive information of âa large numberâ of Canadian children.
TikTok has been available on Canadian app stores since 2017, and serves more than 14 million active monthly users in the country. However, it did not have a stand-alone Canadian privacy policy until this year, and previously relied on a bucket policy referring to “other regions.”
âNone of the iterations of the privacy policy disclosed to users that TikTok was combining and categorizing the personal information it collected on them in order to create detailed profiles,â the lawsuit alleges. âNeither did they disclose that TikTokâs purpose for creating these profiles was to entice users to spend more and more time on the platform and to be able to sell advertising targeted at those users while they were on the platform.â
TikTok kept data from children’s deleted accounts
Users younger than 13 are banned from using TikTok’s platform, and TikTok has said that it deletes roughly 500,000 accounts belonging to children each year. However, privacy commissioners found that TikTok kept information collected from those children’s accounts even after their profiles were deleted.
In response to the privacy commissioners’ concerns, TikTok has committed to implementing new models to detect underage users. It also vows to clearly communicate its policies regarding how it retains, stores, and uses user data.
However, the lawsuit maintains that these actions arenât adequate responses to any harm caused by TikTokâs alleged previous collection of user data without informed consent. It further asks that TikTok be forced to disgorge any profits it collected through the use of that data.
Last year, TikTok was ordered to wind down its Canadian business by an unspecified date. Its app remains available in the country as of this writing. The company claimed that last year it contributed $2.3 billion in GDP to Canada’s economy through its own operations, as well as content creators and small businesses promoting their work through the platform.Â
BetaKit has reached out to representing law firm Charney Lawyers, as well as ByteDance and TikTok, for comment.
Image courtesy Flickr. Photo by Solen Feyissa.