United States of America: Announced FTC referral of complaint against TikTok for potential COPPA and FTC Act violations to Department of Justice

On 18 June 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) referred a complaint to the Department of Justice (DOJ) against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance. The referral originates from an ongoing investigation into TikTok, specifically the assessment of the company’s compliance with a 2019 settlement regarding violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The FTC's investigation was expanded to include additional potential breaches of COPPA and the Federal Trade Commission Act after the FTC investigation preliminary found that there are sufficient grounds to believe that the defendants might be violating, or are about to violate, data protection rules.