House panel requests FTC investigate if TikTok violated child protection act

Leaders of a bipartisan committee focused on China urge the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether TikTok violated child protection laws in its efforts to prevent the U.S. from banning the app. I sent a letter to

The letter was obtained and first reported by The Hill. NBC Newsto FTC Chair Lina Khan, stating that apps violate the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) or Section 5 of the FTC Act when they send pop-up notifications to users requesting personal information. We are asking the organization to investigate whether this is the case. He asked them to contact Congress.

John Moolener (Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), the Republican chairmen of the House Select Committee on the Communist Party of China, said TikTok’s messages could be harmful to young children and other children under the age of 13 in classrooms. He said it was sent to an adult.

“The solicitation of children using deceptive and inflammatory information has resulted in at least one threat of self-harm, and the Congressional Office has reported receiving phone calls from children threatening suicide,” the letter said. it is written like this.

This letter follows the passage of the Foreign Enemy Control Applications Act. The app’s owner, ByteDance, is based in Beijing, which prompted Congress to pass the controversial bill. With President Biden signing the bill, ByteDance will have up to a year to sell its app or face a ban from U.S. app stores.

While the bill was being debated, TikTok sent a pop-up message to its US users urging them to call Congress to oppose the bill and “stop TikTok from shutting down.”

“Speak out now before the government strips 170 million Americans of their constitutional right to free expression,” the message reads. “This will harm millions of businesses, destroy the livelihoods of countless creators across the country, and prevent artists from finding audiences.”

In the letter, the lawmakers said they were concerned that the Chinese Communist Party-controlled app “appears to have the ability to freely manipulate American citizens, including American children.”

according to FTC website, COPPA rules do not require “operators of sites for general audiences to investigate the ages of visitors to their sites and services.” TikTok said it will only send notifications to users who are 18 and older, and users will have “multiple options to dismiss” the notifications.

Section 5 of the FTC Act declares unfair or deceptive practices to be illegal.according to letter The FTC’s Deception Policy Statement states that TikTok’s notices are considered unlawful if they “could influence a consumer’s actions or decisions about a product or service.” TikTok said it did not violate Article 5 because the users received the notifications because they were users of the app in the first place.

In a statement to The Hill, a TikTok spokesperson said, “We are grateful that members of Congress have expressed concern after hearing from voters asking them not to pass legislation that tramples on First Amendment rights.” It’s unfortunate that there are.”

Mr. Krishnamoorthi declined further comment. The Hill reached out to Moolenaar and the FTC.