TikTok to be sued in the UK

A recently published court document has revealed that social media platform TikTok is the subject of a class action lawsuit in the United Kingdom.

The document, which can be found in the England and Wales High Court (Queen’s Bench Division) Decisions page, lists the suing party as SMO (a child) through Anne Longfield, the United Kingdom’s Children’s Commissioner who is acting the representative of the child. The parties being sued include TikTok Inc, as well as Bytedance, its owner, and Musical.Ly, the company which preceded TikTok.

The case was filed on December 30, 2020, and the reason for its revelation is because the Children’s Commissioner is involved in it. As per the UK government, the office of the Children’s Commissioner promotes the rights, views and interests of children in policies or decisions which affect their lives. The Children’s Commissioner’s office is particularly involved in situations in which  the children involved are deemed vulnerable or have a difficulty at making their views known.

In what has been described by UK-based media as an ‘unusual move’, the lawsuit is being funded by unnamed private parties, despite the lawsuit being spearheaded by a public organisation. The private parties will receive a portion of any amount TikTok is legally bound to pay out in the event where the lawsuit is successful.

In the judgement, Justice Warby includes a section which may have more wide-ranging ramifications, pertaining to all children under 16 years old, not just the unnamed 12 year old child directly involved in the lawsuit.

“The intention is for the claimant, through the Commissioner, to bring a representative action pursuant to CPR 19.6, claiming those remedies on behalf of the claimant and all other children under 16 years of age who are or were users of TikTok and/or Musical.ly,” stated Justice Warby in the published document.

Despite the lack of additional details being provided as to the nitty gritty of the lawsuit, a similar case in the United States in 2019 hints that the lawsuit may be related to the information being collected and used by TikTok. The US-based lawsuit explained the nature of the action involved ‘identifiable information of children under 13 years old’.

“This case alleges that Defendants, in a quest to generate profits, surreptitiously

tracked, collected, and disclosed the personally identifiable information and/or viewing data of

children under the age of 13— without parental consent—while they were using Defendants’ video social networking platform”, the US filing explained.

“These unfair and deceptive business practices have had serious ramifications, including, but not limited to, children being stalked on-line by adults”, the filing added.

The judgement by Justice Warby explains that the way the class action lawsuit against TikTok is being funded is similar to a previous case in which Google was sued by product and service review website Which? Director Richard Lloyd. In that instance, Lloyd’s lawsuit was funded by a venture capital fund who then received a large percentage of the damages paid by the US technology company.

Back in 2018 and in reference to the lawsuit against Google, Anthony White QC, a British barrister had noted that any party funding the lawsuit could be entitled to a maximum share of 50 percent of the total damages.

“If there are 4.4 million claimants, each entitled to several hundred pounds, under the current damages-based regime the maximum share is 50 per cent. If 50 per cent were taken by the funder, the amount generated in this action for the funder would be a very substantial sum of money”, said White.