Walberg, Castor, Markey, Cassidy urge DOJ to Expeditiously Review Allegations of TikTok's COPPA Violations

Washington, D.C. -- Today, Representative Tim Walberg (MI-05), Representative Kathy Castor (FL-14), Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.), and Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to act expeditiously on the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) referral of a complaint against TikTok for potential violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the FTC's 2019 settlement with TikTok for violations of COPPA.

In their letter, the lawmakers wrote: "Five years later, according to the FTC, TikTok is still failing to comply with COPPA. On June 18, the Commission released a statement indicating it had referred a complaint against TikTok to DOJ based on its review of the company's compliance with the 2019 settlement. According to the FTC, '[t]he 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.' DOJ is now charged with reviewing that referral and determining whether to file a complaint on behalf of the Commission. Given TikTok's previous violations of COPPA and the critical need to protect children's online privacy, we urge the Department to expeditiously investigate these allegations and take all necessary action to protect children's online privacy."

This is the latest in a long list of privacy and security violations by TikTok.

Background

• On March 23, 2023, in response to Rep. Tim Walberg's questions of whether any American data was stored or accessible in China, TikTok CEO Chew stated under oath, "American data has always been stored in Virginia and Singapore in the past, and access of this is on an as-required basis by our engineers globally."
• On June 8, 2023, following a Forbesreport refuting Chew's sworn testimony, Rep. Walberg led 12 colleagues demanding the Department of Justice review false statements made under oath. Senator Rubio sent a similar letter.
• On March 13, 2024, the House passed H.R.7521, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The bipartisan bill prevents foreign adversaries from targeting, surveilling, and manipulating Americans through apps like TikTok. The legislation requires TikTok to divest from their Chinese Communist Party-connected parent company, ByteDance, within a designated time period or face removal from all major app stores in America.
• On April 24, 2024, H.R.815, which included H.R.7521 as a provision, was signed into law.
• Walberg, Castor, Markey, and Cassidy lead COPPA 2.0, which the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee has passed unanimously.

Full text of the letter can be found here.