TikTok has a lot of problems at the moment. But you can add one more problem to the list. On Friday the US Department Of Justice sued TikTok. Here’s the details from The Verge:
The DOJ claims that TikTok knowingly let kids onto its platform through its “Kids Mode,” collected their information, and failed to delete their accounts at their parents’ requests, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). When a kid under 13 entered their age on the app, they’d be prompted to enter a username, which doesn’t contain personal information, and it would create a Kids Mode account for the user. But the app wouldn’t notify parents or get their consent. Kids can’t upload videos in that mode, but they can view videos; the DOJ alleges that TikTok collected some personal information on them as part of this process, like unique device identifiers and IP addresses.
The lawsuit alleges that TikTok’s age-gating techniques “are deficient in multiple ways.” Under an earlier practice, TikTok would let users restart the account creation process even if they’d originally entered a birthday showing they’re under 13, according to the complaint. TikTok also used to let users log in through Instagram or Google, which would categorize the accounts as “age unknown,” the DOJ alleges.
The DOJ says TikTok has let millions of kids use its platform but said it’s hard to pin down the exact scale of its violations because it didn’t comply with a requirement from a 2019 injunction to keep records on its COPPA compliance. The DOJ is asking the court to prevent TikTok from violating COPPA in the future and pay civil penalties for each violation. Under the FTC Act, civil penalties can go up to $51,744 per violation, per day.
TikTok for its part tried to deflect this:
TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said in a statement that the company disagrees with the DOJ’s claims, “many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed. We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to update and improve the platform. To that end, we offer age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched features such as default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors.”
Seeing as they could be banned in the US soon, TikTok doesn’t need this. It underlines the fact that TikTok is considered by many to be suspect as best. And there’s no way for them to back away from that. I can’t see how TikTok can continue to be a going concern as I am sure that this is a moment that may spell the end of TikTok.
CrowdStrike To Delta: It’s Not Our Fault
Posted in Commentary with tags CrowdStrike on August 5, 2024 by itnerdIt’s taken far longer than I anticipated, but CrowdStrike has finally responded to news that Delta Airlines has retained legal counsel to get compensation from them when it comes to their faulty software patch taking down Delta and a whole lot of other people:
CrowdStrike reiterated its apology to Delta in a letter responding to public comments about the airline pursuing legal claims, but said it “strongly rejects any allegation that it was grossly negligent or committed willful misconduct.” CrowdStrike says the litigation threat “has contributed to a misleading narrative that CrowdStrike is responsible for Delta’s IT decisions and response to the outage,” noting that competing airlines restored their operations much more swiftly.
“CrowdStrike’s CEO personally reached out to Delta’s CEO to offer onsite assistance, but received no response,” CrowdStrike lawyer Michael Carlinsky said in the letter. Carlinsky said CrowdStrike had made several other attempts to provide assistance, including an offer for onsite support, but was told that resources for the latter were not required.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that CrowdStrike didn’t get a response because Delta was too busy trying to get their systems back online because of CrowdStrike’s screw up. And by the time they did respond, Delta was so mad at CrowdStrike that Delta flipped them off. If there’s an alternate view to this that I should be aware of, leave that view in the comments below.
Anyway…..
“Should Delta pursue this path, Delta will have to explain to the public, its shareholders, and ultimately a jury why CrowdStrike took responsibility for its actions — swiftly, transparently, and constructively — while Delta did not,” said Carlinsky. The letter also notes that CrowdStrike’s contractual liability is capped “in the single-digit millions,” and that the company will “respond aggressively” to litigation “if forced to do so.” We have reached out to Delta for comment and will update this story if we hear back.
This sounds like a threat to me. And I can see why CrowdStrike would fire threats in Delta’s direction. CrowdStrike doesn’t want a mountain of lawsuits filed against it because it’s pretty safe to say that any one of these lawsuits would “end” CrowdStrike, never mind a whole bunch of them. Thus they’re trying to use Delta to deter others from doing what Delta has done. The thing is that I am not sure that this is a viable strategy. On top of that, it doesn’t paint CrowdStrike in the best light. Not that CrowdStrike is going to listen to me, but maybe they should rethink how they respond to this before their problems multiply. Just a thought.
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