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
The Grammys’ voting body is more diverse, with 66% new members. What does it mean for the awards?
For years, the Grammy Awards have been criticized over a lack of diversity — artists of color and women left out of top prizes; rap and contemporary R&B stars ignored — a reflection of the Recording Academy's electorate. An evolving voting body, 66% of whom have joined in the last five years, is working to remedy that.
At last year's awards, women dominated the major categories; every televised competitive Grammy went to at least one woman. It stems from a commitment the Recording Academy made five years ago: In 2019, the Academy announced it would add 2,500 women to its voting body by 2025. Under the Grammys' new membership model, the Recording Academy has surpassed that figure ahead of the deadline: More than 3,000 female voting members have been added, it announced Thursday.
"It's definitely something that we're all very proud of," Harvey Mason jr., academy president and CEO, told The Associated Press. "It tells me that we were severely underrepresented in that area."
Reform at the Record Academy dates back to the creation of a task force focused on inclusion and diversity after a previous CEO, Neil Portnow, made comments belittling women at the height of the #MeToo movement.
Since 2019, approximately 8,700 new members have been added to the voting body. In total, there are now more than 16,000 members and more than 13,000 of them are voting members, up from about 14,000 in 2023 (11,000 of which were voting members). In that time, the academy has increased its number of members who identify as people of color by 63%.
"It's not an all-new voting body," Mason assures. "We're very specific and intentional in who we asked to be a part of our academy by listening and learning from different genres and different groups that... Read More