Dutch consumer assoc. claims €1.5 billion in damages from TikTok

The Dutch consumers' association and the Take Back Your Privacy Foundation filed a 1.5 billion euros damage claim against TikTok parent company ByteDance. They want TikTok to pay all Netherlands children who use or used the social media platform compensation of around 1 thousand euros each, RTL Nieuws reports.

According to consumers' association Consumentenbond, TikTok illegally collected personal data from between 1.2 million and 1.6 million Netherlands children for years and sold it for targeted ads. Part of the 37 billion dollars in profit the company made last year is therefore due to the profile information, videos and photos these children unsuspectingly shared on TikTok.

"TikTok's behavior is pure exploitation. The company earns hundreds of millions a year on the backs of children," Consumentenbond director Sandra Molenaar said. In addition to compensation, the consumers' association and privacy foundation also want the data of Netherlands children to be deleted. If TikTok refuses to pay, the organizations will take the matter to court.

This damage claim was submitted through the Collective Settlement Mass Damage Act. The law makes it possible to submit a claim to TikTok even if no Dutch parents have yet reported for compensation, a Consumentenbond spokesperson said to RTL. The association called on parents of children who used TikTok or its predecessor musical.ly to register for free with Consumentenbond. 

This is the second mass claim submitted against TikTok in the Netherlands. Early this month, the Dutch market information research foundation SOMI submitted a 1.4 billion euros claim on behalf of 64 thousand parents across Europe.