Two influential members of the U.S. House of Representatives have called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether TikTok officials have violated child protection laws and other regulations. According to the lawmakers, TikTok has been providing deceptive information to underage American users and influencing them to lobby Congress.
Chairman of the House “Strategic Competition with the CCP Subcommittee” Republican Congressman John Moolenaar and the top Democratic member of the subcommittee Raja Krishnamoorthi wrote a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan expressing serious concerns. They stated that, “An application controlled by the Chinese Communist Party seems to have the ability to manipulate the American public, including American children, without restriction.”
In the letter, the lawmakers pointed out that the company used “deceptive and inflammatory information” to mobilize children under the age of 13 to participate in activities against the U.S. Congress. The bipartisan bill (“TikTok Divestment Act”) requires ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell the app to avoid a U.S. ban. President Biden signed the bill into law last month.
To oppose the bill, TikTok sent out a misleading pop-up message to many users on the platform in March. The message falsely claimed that the bill banned the use of TikTok. In reality, the bill is a protective measure aimed at safeguarding Americans from the control and influence of applications associated with hostile nations.
The deceptive pop-up window from TikTok prompted users, including potentially underage children, to provide personal information (zip code) and call Congress on behalf of TikTok to influence the legislative process. There have been reports of a child using false information from TikTok to call lawmakers, threatening to commit suicide if the legislative work continues.
In conclusion, the lawmakers requested that the FTC investigate whether TikTok violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by sending deceptive pop-up messages to children under 13, including whether TikTok sent those messages on its “TikTok for Young Users” application. If not, they questioned why TikTok’s measures failed to prevent a large number of children from receiving messages that were supposed to be targeted only at adult users.
They also asked the FTC to investigate whether TikTok’s dissemination of deceptive pop-up messages to minors on its platform constitutes a breach of the company’s terms of service and the Federal Trade Commission Act Section 5.
In response on Thursday, TikTok stated that it follows the FTC’s guidance and employs standard procedures to verify user ages. The company only sent notifications about the bill to users aged 18 and above, with no intention to target those under 13.