FTC refers TikTok complaint to the DOJ 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) referred a complaint against TikTok related to children's safety law violations to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the agency said Tuesday.  

The complaint is based on a compliance review of TikTok, formerly known as Musical.ly, following a 2019 settlement over violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.  

“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 DOJ,” the FTC said in a statement.  

The commission does not typically publicly announce if a complaint has been referred, as outlined in the FTC Act, but it did so “in the matter of public interest,” according to the statement.  

The Hill reached out to a TikTok spokesperson for comment.

In 2019, TikTok agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle allegations that the company illegally collected personal information from children.

This year, TikTok has faced separate government pressure. In addition to facing questions from a Senate panel, alongside other tech companies, about kids’ safety, a law was passed in April that would ban TikTok if it is not sold from its Chinese-based parent company ByteDance.  

TikTok filed a lawsuit in May that seeks to block the law, arguing it violates the First Amendment.