FTC investigating TikTok over privacy concerns, potential lawsuit looms

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has been investigating TikTok over allegedly faulty privacy and data security practices, and could decide to bring a lawsuit or settlement in the next few weeks, Politico reported on Tuesday citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Earlier in March, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill giving ByteDance about six months to sell the U.S. assets of the app, or face a ban.

The White House had said the Senate should take “swift action”, and President Joe Biden said he would sign the bill.

Reuters had in 2020 reported the FTC and the U.S. Justice Department were looking into allegations the popular social media app TikTok failed to live up to a 2019 agreement aimed at protecting children’s privacy. Reuters