DOJ suing TikTok over alleged ‘widespread’ child privacy violations
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, accusing the social media giant of unlawfully collecting and retaining data from children in violation of United States privacy laws.
The civil consumer protection complaint filed Friday in federal court in California accuses TikTok of collecting a “wide variety” of personal information from children who created accounts on the app dating back to 2019 through the present day.
The department further alleges that even when children created accounts in TikTok’s designated “Kids Mode,” the company still unlawfully collected and retained children’s email addresses and other personal information without notifying or getting consent from parents.
The alleged privacy violations “have resulted in millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, subjecting them to extensive data collection and allowing them to interact with adult users and access adult content,” the department said in a release announcing the lawsuit.
“The Department is deeply concerned that TikTok has continued to collect and retain children’s personal information despite a court order barring such conduct,” acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a statement. “With this action, the Department seeks to ensure that TikTok honors its obligation to protect children’s privacy rights and parents’ efforts to protect their children.”
A TikTok spokesperson disputed the allegations, saying many “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,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”
The lawsuit against the company was widely expected after the Federal Trade Commission in June announced it had referred a complaint to the DOJ following an investigation of TikTok and ByteDance’s alleged violations under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
TikTok said at the time it disagreed with the FTC’s allegations, which it argued were either inaccurate or outdated policy practices the company had already addressed.
The lawsuit also comes just days after the Justice Department argued in court filings that TikTok poses a unique threat to U.S. national security as it sought to defend a newly passed law that would require the company to sell its American-based operations or risk an all-out ban. The company has sued to block enforcement of the law before it takes effect in January, arguing it is unconstitutional and would violate its more than 170 million American users’ First Amendment rights.
(PHILADELPHIA) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump debated for the first time on Tuesday, a consequential matchup with just eight weeks until Election Day.
The debate was hosted by ABC News at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The 90-minute showdown was filled with animated zingers and tense exchanges on key policy issues facing the American people.
Harris sought to portray herself as a new generation of leadership with a track record of results, while Trump tried to paint her as a radical Democrat and continued to criticize the Biden administration.
Here are some key takeaways from the debate:
Harris put Trump on defensive early on
The vice president didn’t waste any time in going on the attack against Trump.
“What we have done and what I intend to do is build on what we know are the aspirations and the hopes of the American people,” Harris said minutes into the debate. “But I’m going to tell you all, in this debate tonight, you’re going to hear from the same old, tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling.”
She later took a dig at his rallies, claiming people leave them early out of “exhaustion” as he gives long speeches that sometimes include references to windmills causing cancer or to fictional characters such as Hannibal Lecter. Trump immediately defended his events and crowd sizes, saying he has the “biggest” and “most incredible” rallies in political history.
After Trump railed against crime in the nation, Harris said she thought the comments were “so rich” coming from someone who has been criminally charged multiple times. Trump has denied all wrongdoing in each of the cases against him.
Trump continues attacks on — Biden
Trump, who had a difficult time changing his message when Harris succeeded President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s nominee, continued to criticize Biden and continually tried to tie Harris to Biden’s record — most notably on the economy, immigration and leadership abroad.
“She is Biden,” he said. “The worst inflation we’ve ever had, a horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad, and she can’t get away with that.”
Harris, who has supported many of Biden’s stances while also offering her own economic proposals, quickly responded, “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country.”
In the “spin room” with reporters after the debate, Trump continued to blast the Biden-Harris record.
“She’s trying to get herself away from Biden, and she wasn’t able to do that tonight,” he said.
Did Harris succeed in introducing herself to viewers?
A key question heading into the debate was whether Harris would be able to define herself to voters who say they don’t feel they know her or what she stands for well enough.
A recent New York Times/Siena College poll found a sizable share of likely voters (28%) and registered voters (31%) feel they need to know more about Harris as a candidate. Those numbers were even higher among independent voters: 41% of registered independents and 38% of likely voters who identified as independent said they needed to learn more about her.
Harris began her first response to a question on the economy by saying she was raised by her mother in a middle-class family. Later, she highlighted her background as a prosecutor who has taken on transnational criminal organizations. She also noted that as a senator, she was at the U.S. Capitol when it was attacked by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6.
She also hit on some of her signature policy proposals, including her support for reproductive freedom and economic plans like expanding the Child Tax Credit and assisting first-time homebuyers. She also noted that both she and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, are gun owners and wouldn’t take people’s guns away.
While neither candidate went too deep into policy specifics, Harris did try to paint a clear contrast between what she is offering and what she believes Trump is proposing if elected.
“What I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country, one who believes in what is possible, one who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the American people,” she said.
Meanwhile, Trump argued Harris is a “radical left liberal” and pressed her on some of her shifts on police funding, fracking and more since her 2019 Democratic primary campaign.
Trump still refuses to concede he lost the 2020 election
Trump tried to explain his own remarks recently in which he appeared to accept he lost the 2020 election, including his comment last week that he “lost by a whisker.”
“I said that?” Trump said on the debate stage when it was read back to him.
“Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?” ABC News moderator David Muir asked.
“No, I don’t acknowledge that at all,” he said. “That was said sarcastically.”
Asked about the peaceful transfer of power, Trump did not say that he regrets anything about his actions on Jan. 6, 2021. He claimed he had “nothing” to do with what happened that day, which culminated in an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Race comes up, but not gender
For the second time, Trump is campaigning against a woman for president. Harris’ gender was not broached during the debate, though her race was.
Asked by moderators about his previous false comments on her racial identity — including that Harris, who is Black and South Asian, “happened to turn Black” — Trump said he “couldn’t care less.”
“I don’t care what she is. I don’t care,” he said. “Whatever she wants to be is OK with me.”
When pressed, Trump doubled down, saying he read that she was not Black, and then that she was.
“And that’s okay. Either one was okay with me. That’s up to her. That’s up to her,” he said.
Asked for her thoughts, Harris went on the attack — but didn’t focus on herself. Instead, she focused on Trump’s falsehoods about former President Barack Obama’s birthplace and noted “he was investigated because he refused to rent property to Black families” to cast him as divisive and unfit.
“Honestly, I think it’s a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently, over the course of his career, attempted to use race to divide the American people,” she said. “I think the American people want better than that, want better than this.”
“This is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country,” Trump responded.
(CHICAGO) — Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., whose home state is hosting the Democratic National Convention, said Vice President Kamala Harris is on the upswing heading into the major political gathering this week.
Speaking to “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, Duckworth said “momentum is continuing to build” and that being “consistent with our messaging will be a big part of” gaining more support, particularly on the economy, as most polling suggests voters trust former President Donald Trump more than Harris on the economy and inflation.
“Here in Chicago, we’ve turned things around. We’ve had nine credit upgrades here. We’ve had balanced budgets for the last four years. And this is really the message that we’re sending when Democrats are in charge. We’re going to put the economy back on track,” Duckworth said Sunday.
“We’re going to continue the momentum that we started. Inflation is coming down, and I think that is what Kamala is going to be talking about when she’s going to be talking to those working families, those middle-income families, you’re our priority,” she added.
When pressed by Raddatz on the latest ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos polling showing Harris on her back foot on the issue, Duckworth said she believes Harris can turn it around before the election. She cited Harris’ recent economic plan, which includes proposals to ban “price gouging” on food and groceries, expand the child tax credit and offer up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.
Duckworth predicted Harris will “get into more details” this week but stressed that “the key is to talk about [how] we are going to put working families front and center in our economic plan.”
Trump, Duckworth said, is “on the side of corporations. He’s on the sides of people who make over a million dollars. Democrats [are] on the side of working families, and we’re going to put them front and center.”
The economy won’t be the only thing on Democrats’ minds in Chicago this week, however.
Thousands of demonstrators are anticipated to descend on the city, as well, to protest the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza, threatening a distraction from Democrats’ party-like atmosphere in the United Center and sparking worries over security.
“I think we need to work hard on getting the cease-fire agreement,” Duckworth said Sunday when asked how Harris could differentiate herself from President Joe Biden on the issue. “And I think what she can push for is to talk about making sure that we get the humanitarian aid into Gaza, and I think she would lean more heavily toward the humanitarian side of things.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat who himself has a background as an activist, insisted Sunday that his city is prepared.
“We are ready for this convention,” Johnson told Raddatz in a separate interview on “This Week.”
“The part that’s actually most exciting, though, in this moment is that this is a party that can handle protests and protecting the First Amendment right, which is fundamental to our democracy, while also strengthening our democracy and speaking to the future of our country,” he said.
“Our local police department has worked with the Secret Service as well as other local agencies to ensure a safe, peaceful yet vibrant, exciting convention,” Johnson added.
Duckworth on Sunday also criticized Trump for recent comments referring to recipients of the Medal of Honor as “either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets, or they’re dead.” The Trump campaign said the former president was referring to the experience of giving the award, not denigrating the Medal of Honor or the actions of service members.
Herself an Iraq War veteran who had her legs amputated after being injured in a helicopter crash, Duckworth targeted Trump’s five draft deferments during the Vietnam War and reports that he purportedly called fallen service members “losers” during his time in office. (Trump has vehemently denied the reported remarks, which Biden repeated on the campaign trail before he dropped out of the race.)
“American voters have a chance to choose. Do they want a five-time draft dodger who denigrates military men and women and our veterans and calls us suckers and losers? Who doesn’t want to have his picture taken with amputee veterans of various conflicts to be the next commander in chief? Or are you going to have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who care deeply about veterans?” Duckworth said.
She also praised Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s own 24-year service in the Army National Guard, defending him against criticism over past comments saying he’d carried a weapon “in war” when he had not actually seen combat.
“We say, ‘when you speak, oftentimes, you say things.’ But remember, this man served 24 years in uniform. He was a, he’s a retired command sergeant major. I’m excited to have a retired command sergeant major in the vice president’s office, in the Situation Room. When we look at issues of conflicts around the world, it’s going to be great to have that experience,” she said.
While Walz was serving as a command sergeant major leading up to his retirement, he did not hold the position long enough to retire with the title. Walz repeatedly referred to himself as a “retired command sergeant major” for years, ABC News has reported, and a line in his bio on the Harris-Walz campaign website also described him that way but has since been edited.
(PITTSBURGH) — Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday to hunker down and prepare for the ABC News Sept. 10 debate with former President Donald Trump, according to a campaign aide.
Choosing to stay in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state, could potentially allow Harris to continue campaigning while she prepares for the debate — and what will be her first in-person meeting with Trump.
The debate is a critical moment for Harris as it could be her last opportunity to pitch herself to a large television audience.
Harris has been preparing for the debate for weeks now. She has been holding mock debates at her alma mater, Howard University in Washington, D.C., with former Hillary Clinton aide Phillips Reines playing the part of Trump while wearing a wig, according to a source.
Reines isn’t the only one assisting Harris in her preparation — she’s also enlisted former White House aides Karen Dunn, Sean Clegg and Rohini Kosoglu. All three worked with her during her 2020 vice presidential debate against Mike Pence.
Asked by reporters Wednesday how her debate preparations were going, Harris responded, “So far, so good.”
While in Pittsburgh, Harris will work on maintaining a calm demeanor as she makes a case for her own presidency while holding Trump accountable for his, according to a source familiar with Harris’ debate preparations.
If Trump dodges a question or begins launching attacks, she wants to be able to successfully pivot the conversation, the source added.
That same source said the vice president will also focus on avoiding going down policy rabbit holes, which the source said was something she did during her 2019 debates.
Harris’ latest high-profile debates were during her presidential run four years ago and her vice presidential debate with Pence. This cycle, Trump debated President Joe Biden in June.
The ABC News debate will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m ET. A prime-time pre-debate special will air at 8 p.m. ET.