United States of America: Final Approval of TikTok Privacy Settlement

On 28 July 2022, the TikTok Privacy Settlement to resolve multidistrict litigation over the company’s alleged misuse of its users’ private data was granted final approval by the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The lawsuit is based on the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). In addition to the monetary relief of USD 92 million, the settlement also provides for injunctive relief. The company commits to set limits on the storage and transmission of data outside the US, delete data of pre-uploaded user-generated content that was not posted on the platform, provide training on data protection issues to its employees and conduct audits for three years.