[liberationtech] University Student Files Class Action Suit Against TikTok Alleging Data-Transfer to China

[Yosem Companys]

In a class-action lawsuit, California university student has accused video
app TikTok of harvesting a large amount of user data
<https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3040547/university-student-sues-tiktok-us-over-alleged-transfer-data>
and
storing it in China. *Agence France-Presse* reports that the student, Misty
Hong, filed the suit on behalf of the approximately 110 million U.S.
residents who have downloaded the app, which is especially popular with
teenagers around the world. The lawsuit alleges that TikTok surreptitiously
has taken user content including draft videos never meant for publication
without their knowledge or consent. The complaint also alleges that the
app’s first issue was that it did not create adequate safeguards to stop
minors
<https://gizmodo.com/tiktok-sued-over-claims-that-app-tracked-collected-an-1840181819>
from
utilizing the app, according to Gizmodo. The company, which was launched by
Chinese company ByteDance in September 2017, has distanced itself from
Chinese authorities, maintaining that its servers are located outside the
country and therefore its data is not subject to Chinese law. TikTok app
hit 1.5 billion downloads worldwide in November, outperforming Instagram.
The U.S government opened a national security investigation into the
company in early November, the *New York Times* reported.
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