The company agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine, obtain parental permission before collecting personal information and delete information about users identified as under 13.īut last year Fairplay, then known as the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, was among 20 nonprofit groups that filed a complaint alleging TikTok violated the settlement agreement by not following through on the promises made. TikTok settled with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 to resolve allegations charges that it violated COPPA. The senators should grill the companies - especially TikTok and YouTube, which are driven by sophisticated algorithms that recommend video content to users - about personalizing content in ways that lead to “excessive time” on platforms and exposure to potentially harmful content, Golin said.Īlthough there’s no trove of leaked documents available for lawmakers to sink their teeth into, as they had with Facebook, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas Michael Beckerman, may face questions about allegations that the company is violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, a nonprofit that fights commercial marketing to children and excessive screen time, said lawmakers should put questions about the platforms’ amplification of harmful content front and center during the hearing.
TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, which has previously dispatched executives to Capitol Hill, will likely face similar questions to ones the panel posed to Facebook’s global head of safety Antigone Davis at a hearing earlier this month. The hearing comes as some lawmakers look to use the building momentum from leaks about Instagram and Facebook to push for new regulations on tech companies. Members of the Senate Commerce consumer protection subcommittee are expected to grill executives from the social media companies, along with a representative for YouTube, about their platforms’ effects on kids and teens. TikTok and Snapchat executives will make their debut on Capitol Hill Tuesday, testifying for the first time before a Senate panel about safety precautions for young users.