It appears that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has used the app to collect all kinds of data from its U.S.-based users. If you are a TikTok user in California, firstly, you may be shocked to know that your account information is not as private as you may think. Secondly, you may be eligible to file a class-action lawsuit against the platform and claim compensation for the privacy breach.
About The TikTok China Data Breach
While suspicions about TikTok’s data security are nothing new, the latest revelations appear to confirm what some people have long suspected. Buzzfeed accessed leaked audio from 80 internal TikTok meetings, which showed that the app’s parent company was repeatedly accessing private U.S. TikTok user data. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr posted a Tweet in which he claimed that TikTok “harvests swathes of sensitive data that new reports show is being accessed in Beijing.”
What does Carr mean by “swathes of information”? The app starts to collect your data as soon as you access it – even if you are just browsing and don’t have an account. Once you create an account, the platform gathers information such as your IP address, search history, the content of your messages, what you view, and for how long. It tracks your interaction with advertisers and “infers” factors such as age, gender, and interests based on the data it gathers. If your device is enabled for biometric access control, TikTok can also access your facial images, voiceprints and fingerprints.
Ostensibly, the app uses this data in a completely innocent way, to enable it to customize the content it serves to users. However, it is still concerning that the parent company has the power to gather this much information on US citizens. It undoubtedly constitutes a breach of privacy and users have the right to demand compensation.
How to Qualify for a Class-Action Lawsuit
As a TikTok user, you may qualify to join the class action against TikTok in California. If you can answer “yes” to all of the questions below, you qualify to join and the TikTok privacy violation lawyers at Shamis & Gentile, P.A. would like to hear from you.
- Are you a California resident?
- Do you have the TikTok app installed on your Apple iPhone?
- Did you use the TikTok in-app browser after April, 2021 on your iPhone?
How Shamis & Gentile Can Help You
Shamis & Gentile, P.A. provides outstanding legal services in Florida and New York. We distinguish ourselves because of our experience and resources, which we combine to handle any kind of case involving personal injury, personal injury protection, and class actions/mass tort, among others. If you are a TikTok user and answer “yes” to all of the criteria listed above, contact us and book a consultation with a TikTok privacy violation lawyer. You may soon be joining the class action lawsuit against the social media platform.
