Social media platform TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are facing civil charges of violating children’s privacy laws, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday.

US authorities claim that TikTok knowingly allowed children under 13 to create accounts and share content without parental consent, failing to adequately protect minors’ personal information as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

In a complaint filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, DOJ attorneys argued:

For years, Defendants have knowingly allowed children under 13 to create and use TikTok accounts without their parents’ knowledge or consent, have collected extensive data from those children, and have failed to comply with parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts and personal information. … To put an end to TikTok’s unlawful massive-scale invasions of children’s privacy, the United States brings this lawsuit seeking injunctive relief, civil penalties, and other relief.

This legal action comes despite a previous court order stemming from a 2019 lawsuit against TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly, which mandated specific measures aimed at ensuring compliance with COPPA.

The DOJ claims TikTok continued to collect and retain children’s data improperly, even in its “Kids Mode,” and often failed to honor parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts. With millions of underage users potentially affected, the lawsuit seeks financial penalties and injunctive relief to address what DOJ officials describe as a significant threat to children’s privacy on one of the world’s most popular social media platforms.

In April, US President Joe Biden signed into law a bill designating apps operated by TikTok and ByteDance as “foreign adversary controlled applications.”  The act bans these apps unless the owner of such an app divests from it within 270 days, subject to a one-time 90-day extension. In turn, TikTok and ByteDance sued the US Government, alleging the act violates the First Amendment to the US Constitution.