Tiktok sues in the Netherlands for 1.7 billion USD for collecting child data

Jun Thu 10 2021

The Amsterdam Market Information Research Foundation (SOMI), which represents 64,000 Dutch parents, has sued Tiktok for 1.4 billion euros (about $ 1.7 billion) for collecting data from millions of children. Meanwhile, Tiktok has updated its privacy policy in the United States regarding the collection of personal data such as face and voice recognition.

This article was published on 8th June 2021 on Nation World News Desk. 

According to Dutch media, on June 2, SOMI filed the case in a court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, against Tiktok for violating the data protection law of the European Union. The organization stated that the Chinese social media app collects data from children without proper permission, adding that more common videos on Tiktok could be harmful to children, and that the company neglects the safety and privacy of children.

Tiktok is known in China as Douyin, and is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance. The video sharing app is very popular among the app all over the world.

In addition, SOMI pointed out that TikTok collects far more data than the information it needs for marketing.

Regarding the decision to file a lawsuit, Cor Wijtvliet, co-founder of SOMI, told the Dutch media RTL Nieuws: ‘A court decision can directly restrict the practices of TikTok – and other social media platforms. … We have been sending letters of complaint to TikTok and several European supervisory authorities over the past year, but we are not seeing any significant results. Therefore, we decided not to wait for the authorities’ investigation and to take legal action ourselves. ”

In response to Dutch media, a Tiktok spokesperson told RTL Nieuws that the privacy and security of users ‘has the highest priority’. According to the company’s policy, TikTok can only be used by children who are at least 13 years old and need the consent of underage parents. However, the policy has not been applied. The company was involved in Italy earlier this year when a ten-year-old girl died during a Tiktok challenge. Tiktok has also been charged with billions of dollars for using millions of children’s data in the United States United Kingdom.