BUKDT578 Cybersecurity Law and Policy

Facts

ByteDance is a technology company with its headquarters based in Beijing, China operating a diverse range of social platforms with an aim of educating, entertaining and inspiring people across the world. It is the parent company of TikTok and Duyin the Chinese version of TikTok. The apps allow people to upload funny videos, music and dance videos while live recording. The US government raised questions on the company’s personal data collection of its citizens and breach of privacy policies.

Plaintiff’s Claim

The app extracts private information from its users’ using their biometrics and content upload to track and identify them for gains affiliated with the Chinese government through their devices.

Defendant’s Claim

Denounced the claims but accepted to make the settlement in order to avoid lengthy court tussles and tainting of company’s public image so as to focus on growth and cooperation.

Applicable Law

Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) 1998- children under the age of thirteen should be directed to seek parental consent before giving personal information to websites and online platforms.

Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC) of 1914- prohibits companies from engaging in malicious or treacherous practices against the public or any other competing companies under Section 5 of its powers.

Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) 2008, 740 ILCS 14/1 et seq.-all biometric data obtained from an individual should seek the consent and approval of the person whose details are being captured.

Issue of Law

Can TikTok prove that it does not acquire details of children under the age of 13 without consent of their parents? Does it has any answer to the US government to the issue on getting users’ personal data and granting access to third party individuals on peoples’ information? Can the company prove that user data are safe and well protected?

The United States government under federal law, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 notes that children under the age of thirteen should be protecting from online content and only be granted access by their parents or persons responsible for them. The plaintiff raises question on the application’s biometric system to determine whether one is a minor or not and what are the actions the company is taking towards this.

The government also takes into consideration the importance of personal data privacy and consent among the general public. The company has not outlined any applicable policies for data management and security. From an audit test done by CyberSecure the company’s data centers and algorithms can be easily tapped by hackers and grant access to people’s personal details. The company has also on the hand failed on informing its users on its collection of personal biometrics and its safety in the database.

Conclusively, the government notes that TikTok has not provided satisfactory measures to curb or resolve the issues.

Holding

The case however still not fully decided in court, TikTok top management have already agreed to pay up to $92 million as settlement for privacy breach.

Impact on IT

The court injunction on TikTok has caused airwaves in the technology sector and cyber security. Global big data companies have all resort to review their privacy policy terms in order to avoid future legal battles. On the other hand, users have also become enlightened on the need to question the viability and purpose of some of the features in their social platforms as was the case in early February 2021 about WhatsApp and its planned privacy statement plan.

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