By Haleluya Hadero
The Federal Trade Commission has referred a complaint against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, to the Department of Justice.
The FTC said in a statement Tuesday that it investigated the two companies and "uncovered reason to believe" they are "violating or are about to violate" the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law which requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.
The agency also cited potential violations of the FTC Act, the law that outlines its enforcement responsibilities.
A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press in March that the agency was looking into whether TikTok violated a prohibition against "unfair and deceptive" business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data.
TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said the company has been working with the FTC for more than a year to address its concerns and was "disappointed the agency is pursuing litigation instead of continuing to work with us on a reasonable solution."
"We strongly disagree with the FTC's allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed," Haurek said in a statement.
The FTC said its investigation began in connection with a compliance review of a 2019 settlement between the agency and Musical.y, the TikTok predecessor that was acquired by ByteDance in 2017. Under the settlement, Musical.y agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve allegations that the company violated the children's privacy law.
The agency said that while it does not typically publicize complaints that are referred to the DOJ, it determined doing so this time was "in the public interest."
Citing national security concerns, U.S. lawmakers passed a law in April that requires TikTok to be sold to an approved buyer or face a nationwide ban. TikTok and Beijing-based ByteDance have sued to overturn the law, which President Joe Biden signed.
Haleluya Hadero is an AP business writer
Google wins legal bid to overturn 1.5 billion euro antitrust fine in EU digital ad case
Google won a court challenge on Wednesday against a 1.49 billion euro ($1.66 billion) European Union antitrust fine imposed five years ago that targeted its online advertising business.
The EU's General Court said it was throwing out the 2019 penalty imposed by the European Commission, which is the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer.
"The General Court annuls the Commission's decision in its entirety," the court said in a press release.
The commission's ruling applied to a narrow portion of Google's ad business: ads that the U.S. tech giant sold next to Google search results on third-party websites.
Regulators had accused Google of inserting exclusivity clauses in its contracts that barred these websites from running similarly placed ads sold by Google's rivals. The commission said when it issued the penalty that Google's behavior resulted in advertisers and website owners having less choice and likely facing higher prices that would be passed on to consumers.
But the General Court said the commission "committed errors" when it assessed those clauses. The commission failed to demonstrate that Google's contracts deterred innovation, harmed consumers or helped the company hold on to and strengthen its dominant position in national online search advertising markets, it said.
The ruling can be appealed, but only on points of law, to the Court of Justice, the bloc's top court.
The commission said in a brief statement that it "will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps."
Google said it changed its contracts in 2016 to remove the provisions in question, even before the commission imposed its decision.
"We are pleased that the court has recognised errors in the original decision... Read More