By Wayne Dupree | December 7, 2019

This article was written by guest writer Carlos Winston.

The parent company of Tik Tok, known as Bytedance, is being sued for allegedly collecting information on children and disclosing it to third-party agencies.

The Chinese based app is known for its highly trendy nature giving its users the potential to go viral with every post and now it’s known for shady practices.

In 2017, Musical.ly was acquired by Bytedance and then merged into the app known as Tik Tok in a deal valued at 1 billion dollars. Since then, Tik Tok has risen to be one of the most downloaded apps in 2019, with about 500 million users. The case documents state that data was being collected from children under the age of 13 and sold to 3rd party companies for profit.

TikTok shared the created videos that include close-ups of faces and private acts with the TikTok app before the videos are saved, reads the lawsuit.

While recording the video TikTok provides certain options to the users that include a close button, next button, and button for effects. When the user click’s next button it takes to the screen that shows options “save” and “post”.

Once users clicked on the next button the app transfers the data from the user’s device to the following domain musdbn(.)com and also to musicly servers, so before saving the video as private or publically posting the video gets shared.

“Unbeknownst to those who have downloaded the seemingly innocuous Musical.ly and TikTok apps, these apps infiltrate users’ devices and extract a remarkably broad array of private and personally identifiable information that Defendants use to track and profile users for, among other things, targeting them with advertisements from which Defendants unjustly profit.” [CyberSecurityNews]

There are laws and regulations in place to do not permit companies to collect and distribute personal information of minors without the parent’s consent. Bytedance did not take the right steps to attain parental consent, nor did they discourage children from using their app. To create an account and interact with other users, you have to submit personal information such as email, name, and phone number.

In other allegations, Musical.ly’s default settings allowed unwarranted communication between adults and minors. All user accounts remained public unless further changes were made. Many believed the nature of the app made into a “Hunting ground” for pedophiles. One of the most dangerous features of the app allowed users to see others within a 50-mile radius using the “My City” tab, making it possible to message those that were close by directly.

There are many factors here that make this a lousy situation for Bytedance. The marketing scheme and ease of access made Musical.ly and Tik Tok top-rated apps, especially for kids that were about 13 years old and younger. They have received many complaints and made aware of these concerns some time ago. With that being said, Bytedance is looking to reach a resolution to clear the issue.

Parents, take the time to look at your kid’s phone and remove this program. Explain what the application is all about and why you have to take this action.

This piece originally appeared in WayneDupree.com and is used by permission.

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