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Musical.ly

Controversies

Controversies tied to this brand in public sources. A listing is not a finding of fault.

Back to profile2 entries

  1. 2019

    Musical.ly fined $5.7 million by FTC for violating US children's privacy law

    The US FTC alleged that Musical.ly (acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and later merged into TikTok) violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA): while knowingly used by large numbers of children under 13, it failed to notify parents and obtain verifiable consent, failed to delete children's personal information at parents' request, and user profiles were public by default, allowing children to be contacted by adult strangers. The two sides reached a settlement, and Musical.ly paid a $5.7 million civil penalty. It was the highest FTC penalty in a children's privacy case at the time; TikTok was required to delete relevant children's data and launch a children's section.

    Source

  2. 2019

    TikTok sued over alleged collection and exposure of children’s data

    Lawsuit filed

    A class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois alleged that TikTok and related defendants collected and exposed personally identifiable data of children under 13 in violation of child privacy protection laws.

    Source excerpt

    • All three companies are named as defendants in the class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
    • The app formerly known as Musical.ly and currently known as TikTok is being sued over allegations that it collected and exposed the personally identifiable data of children under 13 in violation of child privacy protection laws.
    Source