Justice Department sues TikTok; Nvidia is facing an antitrust probe from US regulators

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.

The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the US and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.

The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13. It also says the companies failed to honor requests from parents who wanted their children’s accounts deleted, and chose not to delete accounts even when the companies knew they belonged to kids under 13.

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.

TikTok said it disagreed with the statement, “many of which relate to past events and practices that are actually inaccurate or have been addressed.”

Nvidia is facing an antitrust probe from US regulators

Antitrust tensions are heating up in the chipmaking industry. Rivals have accused Wall Street darling Nvidia of abusing its market dominance in selling chips that power artificial intelligence — and the US Justice Department is now investigating these complaints, technology news site The Information reported.

According to the news outlet, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the discussions, Justice Department officials are looking into concerns Nvidia is potentially cornering the market and pressuring its customers to unfairly retain business.