TikTok and Parent Company ByteDance, Inc. Hit with $92 Million Settlement for Users’ Privacy Issues

A federal court in Chicago granted preliminary approval of a $92 million class action settlement on behalf of users of the TikTok app, and its predecessor application Musical.ly, over claims the social media company wrongfully collected users’ biometric information and private data. The social media company then allegedly disclosed user’s private data and information to third parties violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, and other consumer and privacy protection laws.

Biometric identifiers are physiological traits such as fingerprints, facial patterns, or voice cadence. They can be used to verify a user’s identity and are thought to be more reliable than other forms of identification. This is against the law in Illinois.

The settlement includes a $92 million fund to be distributed to class members, a requirement for TikTok to make disclosures to consumers under certain circumstances, and for the company to initiate a newly designed data privacy compliance training program for all TikTok employees and contractors.

Read more about the recent decision here.