TikTok, the social media app owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is facing a UK lawsuit that could see it forced to pay damages of billions of pounds if it is successful. The lawsuit, brought by legal firm Scott and Scott and backed by a former British children's commissioner, claims that the company collects a huge range of children's personal information when they use the app. As well as harvesting their pictures and videos, it is claimed the app also collects children's phone numbers, specific location details and biometric data which it then sells to third parties for profit.

British Children Data Harvested

Parents and children are likely to be shocked by the revelations, as well as privacy regulators, since the app is used by a huge number of teenagers. According to the UKs media regulator OfCom, it is estimated that almost 45% of children aged between 8 and 12 use the app which represents about 3.5 million children in the UK alone and is likely to be potentially millions more across Europe as a whole.

The lawsuit claims that children's personal information was harvested without explicit consent being gained (which, in the case of children under the age of 18, would need to come from an adult) and constitutes a serious breach of both UK and EU privacy provisions, according to one of the lawyers acting for the plaintiffs in the case.

TikTok Blocked

This is not the first time that the ByteDance's data protection policies have been challenged and Tiktok sued. In 2019 the US Federal Trade Commission levied a record fine of $5.7 million against the company for similar offences of illegally gathering children's personal information. It has also come under scrutiny in India where it was temporarily banned and finally blocked completely from the country. TikTok is also under investigation by the UK Information Commissioner's Office for whether it complies with the UK's data protection rules and whether it protects children's right to data privacy with a report expected later in the year.

TikTok claims that it is only intended for users over the age of 13 but it is claimed that the app is being used by much younger children since all they need to do is enter an older age as there is no additional checking performed by the app. Lawyers are seeking thousands of pounds of compensation for each child, seeking that the app meet its user age requirements as well as demanding that the company provide full transparency about the data it collects and the purposes it is used for.

Developed and launched in 2016 by ByteDance, TikTok is a social media application that allows users to share short videos. In early 2020, TikTok gained massive popularity across the globe, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic that triggered the social isolation and lockdown policies. While this application was solely meant for entertainment at first, e-commerce sellers are now taking advantage of it to market their products. With that in mind, here's a look at some of the new TikTok's new features.

TikTok Product Links

This feature allows the seller to add a product link, which enables the users to click and view the products in the online shop. This way, TikTok sellers get to market their products on this platform without necessarily displaying them.

Short Video Displays

Apart from adding a link to your products, TikTok also allows you to display your products in form of short videos. Here, you can demonstrate the actual working of the product and get people interested in purchasing it.

Livestreamed Shopping

This feature allows brands and influencers to host shopping livestreams, enabling viewers to view products and make in-app purchases in real-time. The TV shopping channel feature is suitable for brands and influencers that command a massive fan following.

TikTok's Competitors

Currently, TikTok is competing with numerous other ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Square online, BigCommerce, and Squarespace. Despite their different business models, these platforms target virtually the same audience, meaning the competition in this space is cutthroat.

TikTok Partnership With Shopify

In October 2020, TikTok announced a partnership with Shopify that would allow at least 1 million merchants to market and sell their products through video ads. So far, the TikTok for Business feature enables ecommerce entrepreneurs to create and run campaigns on TikTok and engage their online communities. Beyond advertising their offerings on TikTok, merchants can also sell their offerings on the platform, and therefore, earn money on the platform.

When is the TikTok Ban Deadline?

Several days have gone by since November 12, the date popular Chinese-owned social media app, TikTok was supposed to be banned in the United States. Not only did this ban not happen, but the fuzz that came with it also faded away after tense months of trying to guess what was going to happen. Last week, it was reported that because Trump is contesting the results of the Election, TikTok feels as if his administration has its hands full with the legal drama surrounding it, therefore, simply forgetting to come through with the ban. That aside, TikTokers have filed a couple of injunctions that are helping to stall the app's ban.

On November 13, which also happened to the Friday the 13th, the Commerce Department's order to effectively bar TikTok in the United States was blocked by a US district court. If that executive order had not been blocked by Judge Wendy Beetlestone, the ban on ByteDance-owned TikTok would have taken effect on November 12 barring the app from being used in the country.

The Commerce Department reacted to these injunction by saying it would comply with it but it plans to defend the executive order and the efforts to implement it from legal challenges.

When giving her ruling, Judge Wendy encouraged the Commerce Department not to bar TikTok from providing their content delivery services, or hosting their data in the US.

TikTok's troubles started when Trump's administration made claims that it poses concerns to the national security of the United States because the app collects personal data on 100 million Americans who use it. The administration went on to claim that the Chinese government could easily obtain this data from ByteDance, putting the US at risk, allegations that TikTok denies.

Will the Tiktok Ban Happen?

For now, there is no clear indication on whether or not the ban will take effect in the future.

US District Judge Carl Nichols, who on September 27 issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the removal of TikTok from Alphabet Inc's Google Play Store and Apple Inc's App Store will on November 18 hold a hearing on the other aspects of the executive order blocked by Judge Beetlestone. So let's wait and see.