The fast-growing, Chinese-owned video sharing network TikTok agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine to US authorities to settle charges that it illegally collected personal information from children.

The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday the penalty by the social network, which had been known as Musical.ly, was the largest ever in a children's privacy investigation.

The social network, which has been surging in popularity with young smartphone users and taking over from rivals like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, failed to obtain parental consent from its underage users as required by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), FTC officials said.

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Fast-growing, Chinese-owned video sharing network TikTok agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine to US authorities to settle charges that it illegally collected personal information from children

'The operators of Musical.ly - now known as TikTok - knew many children were using the app, but they still failed to seek parental consent before collecting names, email addresses, and other personal information from users under the age of 13,' said FTC chairman Joe Simons.

'This record penalty should be a reminder to all online services and websites that target children: We take enforcement of COPPA very seriously, and we will not tolerate companies that flagrantly ignore the law.'

TikTok claimed some 500 million users worldwide last year, making it one of the most popular worldwide apps.

Owned by China's ByteDance, it expanded its reach in the US with the merger with Musical.ly.

Teens have been flocking to the service, which allows them to create and share videos of 15 seconds.

According to the FTC, the company required users to provide an email address, phone number, username, first and last name, a short biography, and a profile picture.

TikTok lets users create and share short singing and dancing videos that are set to well-known songs. It's owners bought Musical.ly and merged the two apps. The Beijing based company behind the app has more than 500 million active users and is now worth more than £58 billion

As part of its agreement with the FTC, TikTok said it would no longer allow children under 13 to upload videos, leave comments, create a profile or send messages.

The changes took effect on Wednesday, with the app now requiring users to enter their birthday.

TIKTOK: A CHINESE-OWNED SOCIAL MEDIA APP SPECIALISING IN SHORT VIDEO CLIPS TikTok is a Chinese social media app where users can live stream, create short videos and music videos and Gifs with a host of functions. TikTok's tagline is 'Make every second count'. It was the most downloaded app in the US in 2018 and the world's fourth most downloaded app in 2018, ahead of Instagram and Snapchat. TikTok is known in China as Douyin where it was launched in 2016 and then made more widely available around the world in 2017. Douyin is still the version of the app used in China, available to download separately to TikTok. It offers users a raft if colourful modification and editing tools including overlaying music, sound, animated stickers, filters and augmented reality (AR) for creating short videos. The Beijing based social network has more than 500 million active users and the company is now worth more than $75 billion (£58 billion). In 2020 Donald Trump called for the US arm of TikTok to be sold to an American company over fears the China-owned app posed a national security risk. Talks are underway between ByteDance, Oracle and Walmart over US operations after Trump threatened a download ban in the US. Advertisement

Some users who entered their birthday discovered that videos has been deleted after they indicated they were younger than 13, according to the Verge.

The consumer protection regulator said 65 million accounts have been registered in the United States.

Officials said the company knew that many of its users were under 13 and should have taken greater precautions.

'In our view, these practices reflected the company's willingness to pursue growth even at the expense of endangering children,' said a statement from FTC commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.

'The agency secured a record-setting civil penalty and deletion of ill-gotten data, as well as other remedies to stop this egregious conduct.'

TikTok has faced criticism around the world for featuring sexually suggestive content inappropriate for children.

TikTok said in a statement it would create a 'separate app experience' for younger users with additional privacy protections as part of its agreement with regulators.

The separate app experience will likely allow younger users to watch videos, but the selection will be curated.

'It's our priority to create a safe and welcoming experience for all of our users, and as we developed the global TikTok platform, we've been committed to creating measures to further protect our user community -- including tools for parents to protect their teens and for users to enable additional privacy settings,' the statement said.

It comes after TikTok announced it would be launching a series of safety videos in its app focused around user privacy, safety and well-being settings.

The company has faced criticism from child safety advocates who say TikTok has attracted child predators who seek to sexually exploit minors.