Oh man, those annoying ads are gaining a delightful sweetness.
You might know TikTok from its awful ads. Or maybe, due to the fact that it seems to be primarily used by preteens and the pederasts that lust after them. Well, the former of those groups is what currently has their parent company, Musical.ly Inc., in hot water right now.
See, COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) requires companies that plan on collecting user data to acquire parental consent for children under the age of 13 to use these platforms. And the FTC asserts that Musical.ly Inc was “aware that a significant percentage of users were younger than 13 and received thousands of complaints from parents.”
So, the app has, essentially, been collecting the usual social media info: names, email addresses, photos, phone numbers. And it has been doing this with users under the age of 13. Granted, the company denies this, stating that since the rebranding, the app requires users to pass through an age gate and confirm that they’re over 13.
But that’s far from the end of it. There’s also the fact that there are reports of adults trying to contact these children via the app. You can probably guess why.
And for all of those reasons, the FTC hit Musical.ly Inc. with an unprecedented $5.7 million fine. And this seems to be a bit of a wake-up call for TikTok; from a company blog post:
In working with the FTC and in conjunction with today’s agreement, we’ve now implemented changes to accommodate younger US users in a limited, separate app experience that introduces additional safety and privacy protections designed specifically for this audience.
We have always worked to provide our users with the best possible platform to foster their creativity. Beginning today, this additional app experience now allows us to split users into age-appropriate TikTok environments, in line with FTC guidance for mixed audience apps. The new environment for younger users does not permit the sharing of personal information, and it puts extensive limitations on content and user interaction. Both current and new TikTok users will be directed to the age-appropriate app experience, beginning today.
From viral videos to tender moments, TikTok allows users from all walks of life to be their authentic selves while delighting in spontaneous humor and global trends. In the younger ecosystem, users cannot do things like share their videos on TikTok, comment on others’ videos, message with users, or maintain a profile or followers. However, they will be able to experience what TikTok is at its core – showcasing creativity – as they enjoy curated content and experiment with TikTok’s unique, fanciful, and expressive features.
In a post-ruling written statement, Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey had this to say:
This FTC ruling underscores what we have long known: companies do not consider children’s personal information out of bounds. While this fine may be an historic high for a COPPA violation, it is not high enough for the harm that is done to children and to deter violations of the law in the future by other companies.
Source: Gizmodo
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