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22 J. High Tech. L. 1 (2021-2022)

handle is hein.journals/jhtl22 and id is 1 raw text is: DATA SNATCHERS: ANALYZING TIKTOK'S COLLECTION OF CHILDREN'S DATA AND ITS COMPLIANCE WITH MODERN DATA PRIVACY REGULATIONS Samuel M. Roth* I. Introduction Between nationwide bans and high stakes data privacy settlements, modern social media applications face a considerable risk collecting the personal information of their younger users, and, as one of the fastest growing social media platforms, TikTok is no exception.1 TikTok is a social-networking platform owned by ByteDance that allows users to create and share short-form mobile videos.2 In 2020, * J.D. Candidate, Suffolk University Law School, 2022. 1 See Eldar Haber, The Internet of Children: Protecting Children's Privacy in a Hyper-Connected World, 20 U. ILL. L. REV. 1209, 1209 (2020) (noting the mass datafication of children in today's society as well as the heightened responsibility for companies to handle children's data more carefully). The move towards an always- on era, by which interconnected devices constantly collect data from users, regardless of their age, exposes children to grave privacy risks. Id. The dire consequences of children's interconnectivity on a global scale, and the mass data- collection the results from such interconnectivity, necessitates a comprehensive reform of the regulatory framework that governs such protection. Id. See also Sam Blake & Tami Abdollah, TikTok Under Scrutiny From Child Privacy Advocates, DOT.LA (May 14, 2020), archived at https://perma.cc/JM53-N3FW (stating that in the U.S., TikTok is currently fighting multiple class action lawsuits and receiving pressure from regulatory enforcement agencies). 2 See Our Products, BYTEDANCE (2020), archived at https://perma.cc/2Z2X-R69W (describing the mission and use of TikTok). ByteDance's products mostly incorporate social media and interconnectivity, with offices and availability around the globe. Id. See also Joe Tidy & Sophia Smith Galer, TikTok: The story of a social media giant, BBC (Aug. 5, 2020), archived at https://perma.cc/6NSP-G5AG (detailing the story of TikTok as a social media giant); John Herrman, How TikTok Copyright © 2021 Journal of High Technology Law and Samuel M. Roth. All Rights Reserved. ISSN 1536-7983.