A TikTok settlement that happened this year is beginning to roll out payments to users who submitted a claim. Still, some social media consumers are confused about the money and whether it’s valid. The good news is for those who filed: yes, an agreed-upon settlement is beginning to pay out, and some users are receiving emails before seeing money pop up in accounts they own.
NBC Chicago also reports that a large part of the TikTok privacy settlement involves minors being stalked by adults due to their personal information being revealed on the website.
TikTok is alleged to have collected, disclosed, and tracked information and personal data of children without parental consent, some as young as 13 (and younger). Of course, stalking at any age is illegal and frowned upon, but it was incredibly terrifying for children and their online habits to potentially have been exposed.
So what exactly is the data privacy settlement? Let’s take a look.
What is the TikTok data privacy settlement?
The TikTok data privacy settlement happened because users of the social media platform found TikTok violating the law due to the collection and use of personal data. When creating a TikTok account, users give personal information to the website, and that data is alleged to have been used without user consent.
Top Class Actions shared the following information about the settlement and who was eligible to file a claim against TikTok:
“Plaintiffs in the TikTok data privacy class action lawsuit accused the defendants — TikTok Inc., formerly known as Musical.ly Inc.; ByteDance Inc.; Musical.ly, now known as TikTok Ltd.; and Beijing ByteDance Technology Co. Ltd. — of using and collecting users’ personal data in connection with their use of the app without the proper notice or consent, a violation of state and federal law.”
Users of TikTok who used the app before Oct. 1, 2021 were eligible to be counted as the “nationwide class” and file a claim. The deadline for claims was in March of 2022, so users can no longer submit to be part of this lawsuit.
What should TikTok users have done to file a claim?
TikTok users could only file one claim each, which should have been turned in by March 1, 2022. The deadline allowed for users to have enough time to submit their information before hearings took place, and Top Class Actions notes that the final approval hearing for this TikTok claim was said to have happened on May 18, 2022.
It’s noted that the court didn’t rule for any party in the action. Instead, both parties settled outside of court after agreeing on a total amount to be paid to the defendants. The settlement fund is said to pay for expenses, such as attorney fees, with the rest of the money left over being provided to users taking part in the class action settlement.
A website called TikTokprivacydatasettlement.com notes that the amount in question to be settled was $92,000,000. Of course, that amount would be split to cover all users deemed defendants and pay court fees and such.
Have users been paid money from the settlement?
A YouTube account, Jordan Liles, noticed that google searches were taking place to find out if the settlement email was authentic or if it was fake.
Liles did some research and found out that it wasn’t a scam, and while the email address is a bit long and eyebrows were raised with a reasonable sense of hesitation, it is a valid contact to those who submitted a claim.
Liles shared the following information about the claim and the research he did last night when he saw the questions being posed on Google search.
“First off, check out the links in the pinned comment below that go into details about the court case involving TikTok. Those links contain more information. I looked around on Twitter, as I’m sure you did too, and people were saying they received an email from Paypal or Venmo saying they got a payment. Some were sent to Hawk Marketplace. People in Illinois got more money. Some people thought the TikTok data privacy settlement email payment might be a scam. Here’s the thing though. Close the email. Login to your Paypal or Venmo or whatever payment method it says, and see if the payment is there. People were reporting that they did indeed see a payment, meaning of course that this is legit.”
Liles’ video explains more for anyone who is still confused about the payout or wants to learn more about the settlement. With funds being sent to accounts now, you can expect to hear more about the situation soon.