FTC Refers Complaint against TikTok to DOJ

The Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it referred a complaint to the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the social media platform TikTok and its parent company ByteDance over potential violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Act.

In March, a source told Reuters the FTC could resolve an investigation into TikTok over allegations of faulty privacy and data security practices by either filing a lawsuit or reaching a settlement.

“The investigation uncovered reason to believe named defendants are violating or are about to violate the law and that a proceeding is in the public interest, so the Commission has voted to refer a complaint to the Department of Justice,” the FTC said in a statement.

“Although the Commission does not typically make public the fact that it has referred a complaint, we have determined that doing so here is in the public interest,” the FTC said, without giving details.

The investigation is separate from ongoing concerns in Congress about the potential that the data of TikTok’s 170 million U.S. users could be improperly accessed by the Chinese Communist Party, which has ties to ByteDance. TikTok has denied the allegation.