TikTok, the incredibly popular short-form video app, and its Chinese parent ByteDance could face a damages claim worth billions of pounds (dollars) in London’s High Court over allegations they illegally harvested the private data of millions of European children, according to details provided by Reuters.
Anne Longfield, the former Children’s Commissioner for England and so-called “litigation friend”, or public face, of an anoynmous 12-year-old girl leading the class action, said on Wednesday that affected children could receive thousands of pounds each if the claim is successful.
Longfield alleged that every child that has used TikTok since May 25, 2018, may have had private personal information illegally collected by ByteDance through TikTok for the benefit of unknown third parties.
“Parents and children have a right to know that private information, including phone numbers, physical location, and videos of their children are being illegally collected,” she said, as a website to detail the case goes live.
A TikTok representative said privacy and safety were the company’s top priorities and that it had robust policies, processes and technologies in place to help protect all users, especially teenage users.
“We believe the claims lack merit and intend to vigorously defend the action,” the representative said.
The claim demands that the company delete all children’s personal information — and states that damages could run into “billions of pounds” if successful.
Such U.S.-style “opt-out” data privacy class actions, which bind a defined group automatically into a lawsuit unless individuals opt out, are rare in Britain.
The case has been put on hold while it awaits a UK Supreme Court ruling in a bellwether case against Internet giant Google over alleged unlawful tracking of iPhone users in 2011 and 2012 through third-party cookies.
The case is to be heard next week.
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