TikTok Agrees To Pay $2 Million To Settle Unlawful Data Collection Claims

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TikTok Unlawful Data Collection Class Action Settlement Overview: 

• Who: TikTok has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve claims filed against it by its users. 
• Why: Users claimed TikTok unlawfully collected and commercialised their data.
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

TikTok has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve claims the company improperly collected and commercialised the data of its Canadian users. 

The agreement, which is not yet approved, ends claims brought forth in a December 2020 class action lawsuit, which stemmed from two separate claims filed against TikTok, the Regina Leader Post reports. 

One of the claims had been filed on behalf of a minor who alleged the video-sharing platform had broken the law by harvesting their private information. 

The $2 million will go to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, Kids Help Phone, the Boy’s & Girls Clubs of Canada and  the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the Regina Leader Post reports.

Users in the class action lawsuit claimed TikTok was able to unlawfully collect their data by exploiting a shortcoming in an older Android system. 

The tactic allowed TikTok to access and collect Android users’ media access control (MAC) addresses in violation of Google’s policy, according to the class action lawsuit.

The collection of MAC addresses has been banned by both Google and Apple since at least 2015, according to the class action lawsuit.

Gaining access to a MAC address, which a user typically is unable to change, enables the ability to track a user even if they opt out of data tracking, among other things, according to the class action settlement, the Regina Leader Post reports. 

Expert Claims 89% Of Android Users Could Be Affected

One expert involved in the complaint claimed the method used by TikTok might have been able to affect 89% of the country’s Android smartphone users.

Users further claim TikTok was unlawfully collecting MAC addresses for a period of at least 18 months prior to Nov. 18, 2019, and that the company had actively sought to conceal that it was doing so, the Regina Leader Post reports. 

TikTok, which continues to maintain its innocence, has argued, instead, that any data collection that occurred in Canada was done lawfully and with proper user consent.

Further, TikTok argued its services in Canada were being provided by a Singapore-based company, TikTok Pte. Ltd., and, therefore, Singapore’s laws should have been considered, the Regina Leader Post reports. 

In December, TikTok agreed to pay $92 million to resolve a similar class action lawsuit filed against it in the US by users claiming it unlawfully collected their data. 

Users in that complaint claimed TikTok had violated the law by using its facial recognition technology to collect their biometric data without their consent. 

Have you used TikTok’s video sharing platform on an Android smartphone? Let us know in the comments! 

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