US regulator refers TikTok complaint to Justice Department

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Tuesday that it has referred its complaint against the Chinese-owned popular social media platform TikTok to the Justice Department.

The FTC said in a statement that its investigation of TikTok, the successor to Musical.ly, and its parent company ByteDance Ltd., began in connection with a compliance review of Musical.ly following a 2019 settlement with the company for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

"The 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," it said. "Although the Commission does not typically make public the fact that it has referred a complaint, we have determined that doing so here is in the public interest."

US President Joe Biden signed a bill on April 24 that could lead to a ban on TikTok unless its Chinese owner ByteDance sells the social media platform in nine months, with the potential for an additional three-month grace period.

The bill was passed by Congress and signed by Biden amid alleged privacy and data security practices by ByteDance, which is suspected of sharing American users' data with the Chinese government.