A Warning for Chinese firms - from the Global Times

[Randy W]

TikTok case shows Chinese firms can’t neglect FTC rules

 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/Portals/0/attachment/2019/2019-03-12/6e3920bd-ea77-4283-b96e-6a2ef9478ac9.jpeg

 

 

After a near three-year investigation, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently announced that short-form video app TikTok, also known as Douyin in China, has agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle the FTC case over its violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). TikTok is a bit unlucky to have been slapped with the largest civil penalty the FTC ever obtained in a children's privacy case. The FTC originally targeted a video social networking app named Musical.ly, but in November 2017, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, spent up to $1 billion to acquire Musical.ly, which, the FTC case alleged, had violated the rights of users under the age of 13 in a number of areas.

For Chinese companies, the FTC is less famed than the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). However, as more Chinese companies explore the overseas market, the FTC is another agency that we must study carefully and pay attention to.