The former children's commissioner for England, Anne
Longfield, and law firm Scott + Scott have brought the case against the firm
and its Chinese parent group ByteDance on behalf of children aged under 13 in
the UK and under 16 in the European Economic Area, a statement said.
TikTok said separately that it would "vigorously
defend" itself, noting that privacy and safety were "top
priorities" for the platform.
The claim "alleges that TikTok and ByteDance have
violated UK and EU children's data protection law (GDPR), and deceived parents
about how exposed their children's private information is when they use the
app".
The case affects potentially more than 3.5 million children
in the UK alone, the statement added.
"TikTok is a hugely popular social media platform that
has helped children keep in touch with their friends during an incredibly
difficult year," Longfield noted.
"However, behind the fun songs, dance challenges and
lip-sync trends lies something far more sinister."
She added that "parents and children have a right to
know that private information, including phone numbers, physical location, and
videos of their children are being illegally collected".
The claim seeks to "put a stop to TikTok's shadowy data
collection practices", Longfield said, as she demanded that the platform
deletes all private information "illegally processed" when the app is
used by children.
The case aims to win compensation that could run into
billions of pounds, the statement added.
TikTok in response maintained it has "robust policies,
processes and technologies in place to help protect all users, and our teenage
users in particular.
"We believe the claims lack merit and intend to
vigorously defend the action," it added in a statement.
The claim stated that every child that has used TikTok since
May 2018, regardless of whether they have an account or the nature of their
privacy settings, may have had their private personal information illegally
collected by ByteDance through TikTok for the benefit of unknown third parties.
The claim also referred to recent hefty fines handed down to
TikTok in the United States and South Korea following child data cases.
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