The following are extracts of three articles from Top Class Actions.

TikTok to Pay $92M in Nationwide Settlement of Private User Data Collection. March 3, 2021 Video-sharing app TikTok has agreed to pay $92 million to settle a class action lawsuit claiming it illegally collected private and personally identifiable data from 92 million United States users, some as young as six years old, and sold the data to advertisers. In a motion for approval of the settlement, filed in the Northern District of Illinois Thursday, lawyers for the plaintiffs say its one of the largest privacy-related settlements the country has ever seen.

If approved, it will end 21 proposed class action lawsuits mostly on behalf of minors alleging TikTok doesnt tell users its facial recognition technology collects and stores their biometric information, as required by Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. Under the act, TikTok needed written permission from users, the motion states. The lawsuit also claimed TikTok and its parent company ByteDance broke federal laws, including privacy and computer fraud and abuse statutes. TikTok has denied any privacy violations.

The legal battle has raged for more than a year and included an expert-led investigation of TikToks source code, which revealed the video-sharing giant went to great lengths to hide its data collection and sharing practices, the class action lawsuit alleged. Plaintiffs investigation has revealed that [TikTok did so] by obfuscating the source code that would reveal their misconduct, the class action lawsuit stated.

As millions of users in the U.S. switched on the app to make and watch videos, TikTok was allegedly sending their information to servers in China, or in other countries where China-based employees could access the data. TikTok also shared information about users, without their consent, with Facebook, Google and other companies, the class action lawsuit alleges.

Under the proposed terms of the settlement, TikTok will no longer record a users biometric information, including facial characteristics, or track a users location using GPS data. TikTok also committed to stop sending U.S. users data overseas and the app said it would no longer collect data on draft videos before the content is published a practice the lawsuit also brought up in its investigation, NPR reported. It will require new training on compliance with data privacy laws and company procedures for all of its incoming employees and contractors, with annual training thereafter. TikTok will also hire a third party to review the compliance training for the next three years, the motion stated.

Under the agreement, two settlement classes are proposed: a nationwide Class of people who used either TikTok or its Musical.ly predecessor and an Illinois subclass. The Illinois subclass is estimated to be about 1.4 million people and the nationwide Class has about 89 million members. 3 The plaintiffs said they will not seek an attorney fee award of more than 33 percent of the settlement fund and will seek service awards of up to $2,500 for each class representative; however, the terms of the $92 million settlement hit a roadblock as a federal judge refused to grant approval after a preliminary hearing on the matter. U.S. District Judge John Lee has reportedly refused to approve the proposed $92 million settlement agreement. At a hearing held on Tuesday, Judge Lee posed several questions about the predicted claims rate and proposed notice plan. Specifically, the judge asked why the TikTok app wouldnt be used to contact Class Members directly to improve the claims rate. Indeed, noted the judge, the claims rate predicted in court documents amounted to less than 2 percent. In addition, the judge said he needed more information about how the parties concluded that the settlement would total $92 million after objectors pointed out that Facebook recently paid $650 million to settle similar claims over the collection of biometric information. While both TikTok and the plaintiffs lawyers say the deal is solid, Judge Lee scheduled a follow-up hearing for April 6. Meanwhile, data privacy law is becoming an area of growing interest for the American public with the rise of tech-giants like TikTok, Facebook and Google, and consumers being increasingly informed about their online rights.

TikTok Data Privacy $92M Class Action Settlement.

February 25, 2022

TikTok users in the United States may be eligible to claim part of a $92 million settlement resolving a class action lawsuit over TikTok data privacy. The nationwide Class is made up of anyone living in the United States who used the TikTok app before Oct. 1, 2021. The Illinois Subclass is made up of Illinois residents who used the app before Oct. 1, 2021. 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. The popular video-sharing app reached 1 billion monthly users in September, according to CNBC. The Court has not ruled in favor of any party in this case, and the defendants deny all allegations of wrongdoing. Instead, the parties have reached a settlement in order to avoid the costs and uncertainties associated with taking the case to trial. After attorneys fees and other expenses are deducted from the settlement fund, Class Members who file a valid claim will receive a proportionate share of the remainder. Illinois residents who used the app in Illinois to create videos may be eligible to receive a payment of up to six times that of non-Illinois residents thanks to certain specific claims made in the class action lawsuit. Class Members may file only one claim. A final approval hearing in the TikTok data privacy class action settlement is scheduled for May 18, 2022. The deadline to file a claim is March 1, 2022.

$92M TikTok settlement over biometric privacy receives final approval.

August 23, 2022

A federal judge signaled early approval of a $92 million settlement in litigation over TikTok privacy policies in October, putting an end to a series of class action lawsuits lodged against the social media giant. TikTok agreed to the $92 million class action 4 settlement with about 89 million of its users over accusations that the social media platform had unlawfully collected users biometric and personal data earlier this year. US District Judge John Lee noted in his approval that the Class Members would likely receive nothing if litigation went forward in court, largely due to TikToks assertion that each user is subject to the platforms class action waiver and arbitration agreements in its terms of service.

The settlement closes out more than 20 class action lawsuits accusing TikTok of failing to inform users that its facial recognition technology collects and stores their biometric data, as well as failing to obtain users written permission before such collection, thus violating several state and federal privacy laws.

In March, the judge refused to approve the proposed multimillion-dollar agreement in response to objections over the plan to notify Class Members and the total settlement fund itself. TikTok Privacy Policy Changes, Co Denies Data Sharing. In the preliminarily approved TikTok class action settlement, the social media company agreed to cease collecting users biometric, geolocation, and GPS data with the app, as well as transmitting US user data outside the US or storing US user data in databases outside the US, unless it discloses such in its privacy policy and complies with all laws. TikTok said it will also require new data compliance training and company procedures and hire a third party to review the compliance training for the next three years.

Required: Explain the accounting process of TikTok regarding the US class action lawsuit since the beginning of the class action litigation until its settlement. Consider the possible stages mentioned in the articles.