Foundation files a compensation claim against TikTok on behalf of tens of thousands of parents

Dutch parents of children who use the popular video app TikTok submit a claim for damages against the company behind that app via Stichting Onderzoek Marktinformatie (SOMI). The foundation says that compensation can amount to 1.4 billion euros. The parents feel that the app does not properly protect the safety and privacy of their children.

This article was published on 2nd June 2021 on Volkskrant in the Netherlands

SOMI reports that it represents more than 64,000 parents. According to Cor Wijtvliet, one of the founders of the foundation, regulators do not act against TikTok. That is why SOMI is going to court in Amsterdam. On Wednesday, the complainants sent a subpoena to the company.

On behalf of all minors who have used TikTok after May 25, 2018, SOMI now wants to recover damages. "TikTok is under ongoing suspicion of sending user data to servers in China," SOMI said on its website, announcing the lawsuit. "In addition, experts have found security flaws in the TikTok app itself, which could allow hackers to access user information."

According to SOMI, TikTok collects data from children so that they can see targeted advertisements, without properly requesting permission. In addition, TikTok would collect much more data than necessary. Furthermore, SOMI says that TikTok is doing too little to protect children. According to the foundation, several children have died abroad as a result of so-called challenges, in which users encourage each other to do dangerous things in order to be able to film and share them.

The company was sued in the UK in April this year for similar reasons. That charge was filed by former Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield on behalf of children in the UK and Europe.

TikTok has previously stated that it considers the safety of young users very important. For example, the company says that accounts of users between the ages of 13 and 15 are set to private by default. Unknowns can't see their videos automatically. Moderators also bar inappropriate videos and users can report offensive material.

TikTok has more than a billion users worldwide.

Awareness Campaign

Research by Kien, which was commissioned by children's rights organization Terre des Hommes, shows that 56 percent of parents are concerned about the online safety of their children. Many of those concerns center on TikTok, as evidenced by responses from 1,000 parents who have children aged 8-17 years old. Parents are especially concerned about strangers approaching and harassing their children, trying to scam them, or sending sexually explicit material.

According to more than one in four parents (28 percent), their child sometimes tells about an unpleasant situation that he or she has experienced on the internet. Terre des Hommes will start an awareness campaign this week about online safety, research project manager Jasper Iking of the organization told Trouw. Three-quarters of the children never say anything about an unpleasant incident online, Iking said. 'shame and fear are the main reasons for this.'

The Dutch Data Protection Authority (AP) started an investigation into the privacy of TikTok users last year. The results of this have not yet been announced.

Read the full article here (in Dutch): https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/stichting-dient-namens-tienduizenden-ouders-schadeclaim-in-tegen-tiktok~bcd76309/