Firm joins class action over data privacy against TikTok

May 11, 2020 – Firm attorneys David Given, Nick Carlin and Brian Conlon have joined a team of lawyers from two other law firms and have brought a class action against TikTok, Inc., and its related U.S. and China entities over users’ privacy rights in their digital data. The core allegation of the 94-page amended complaint filed today in San Jose federal court is that the immensely popular TikTok app (approx. 125 million downloads in the U.S.) pirated private user information, including biometric data, by surreptitiously uploading that information without notice to the user and without the user’s consent, for TikTok and its related entities’ use in other parts of their technology business. In 2019, the federal government prosecuted its own case over the TikTok app, leading to a $5.7 million fine and injunctive relief concerning the collection and destruction of children’s personal data. Federal District Judge Lucy H. Koh has previously held a case management conference and set a number of deadlines in the case. Further proceedings in the case are pending.