US Privacy Lawsuit: TikTok To Pay $92 Million Over 'Theft' Of Personal Data

The lawsuit claimed that the short-video making app platform collected "highly sensitive personal data" to track users and used them in target advertising.

(File Photo/ Getty Images)

In yet another setback for the Chinese short-video making app TikTok, the company will be paying $92 million to settle a case over privacy violations in the US.

Earler in 2019, TikTok settled a $1.1 million lawsuit over alleged children's privacy allegations, as per IANS report. Also Read: Mukesh Ambani Covered Under ‘Z Plus Security’, Know About The VIP Cover Protecting The Industrialist

According to the lawayers, the proposed settlement is believed to be the largest privacy-related payouts in history. It is connected to around 89 million TikTok users in the US whose personal data has been allegedly tracked and sold to advertisers in violation of state and federal law. 

What was the plea?

As per the news agency, the lawsuit raised concerns that the platform collected "highly sensitive personal data" to track users who were targeted for advertising.

However, the Tik Tok spokesperson disagreed with the assertions saying rather than going through lengthy litigation, the copany would like to focus its efforts on building a safe and joyful experience for the TikTok community.

Back in 2019, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance reached a settlement with a group of parents who claimed the company had collected and exposed its data and personal information of minors. In the same year, the company paid $5.7 million to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that musical.ly (now called TikTok) didn’t took parental approval for young users.

FTC insisted that Musical.ly "knew many children were using the app but they still failed to seek parental consent before collecting names, email addresses, and other personal information from users under the age of 13."

In a new settlement, TikTok has agreed to avoid "several behaviours" like storing biometric information, collecting GPS or clipboard data, and sending or storing US users' data outside the country.