U.S. Justice Department Faces Deadline to Sue TikTok Over Children's Privacy Concerns

The U.S. Justice Department has until Friday to decide whether to sue TikTok and ByteDance for failing to protect children's privacy. The FTC referred a complaint about TikTok’s privacy practices to the DOJ in June. A Senate bill to extend COPPA to include teenagers was also passed this week.

WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is approaching a critical deadline this Friday to determine whether it will sue TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, over alleged failures to safeguard children's privacy on the social media platform.

In June, the Federal Trade Commission escalated a complaint regarding TikTok's potential breaches of children's privacy to the Justice Department, triggering a 45-day window for the DOJ to make a decision. This comes amid ongoing concerns and a recent Senate bill aimed at extending privacy protections to teens.

The Chinese-owned TikTok, with around 170 million U.S. users, is also battling a new law that mandates ByteDance to divest its U.S. assets by January 19 or face a ban. Meanwhile, the company has expressed its disappointment over impending litigation, highlighting its year-long cooperation with the FTC.

(With inputs from agencies.)