TikTok is a video-focused social networking service owned by Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts a variety of short-form user videos, from genres like dance, comedy, and education, with durations from 15 seconds to three minutes
If you were a TikTok user prior to October 1 and are a United States resident, you may be eligible to receive part of a $92 million payout as part of a class action settlement.
The settlement follows a class-action lawsuit alleging that TikTok had collected personal data from users and shared it with third parties without users’ consent. TikTok denied the allegations in the lawsuit but agreed to pay $92 million to settle.
TikTok notified users on Monday via an in-app notification that they may be eligible and directed them to visit a link to a website about a Data Privacy Settlement payment.
The settlement follows a class-action lawsuit alleging that TikTok had collected personal data from users and shared it with third parties without users’ consent. TikTok denied the allegations in the lawsuit but agreed to pay $92 million to settle.
how to submit a claim to receive a payout
The settlement, which applies to approximately 89 million TikTok users in the United States, is the result of 21 federal lawsuits that were filed primarily on behalf of minors, NPR reported in February. Some of those minors were as young as 6 years old.
To receive any money as part of the settlement, eligible users must submit a claim by March 1, 2022, and those eligible can choose if they want to receive payments via Mastercard, PayPal, or Venmo.
Users also have the option to exclude themselves from the settlement by filling out an exclusion form and postmarking it by January 31, 2022. If you do so, you will receive no benefits from the settlement but retain the right to sue for the legal issues within the class action lawsuit, per the settlement notice.
Those eligible may also object to the settlement by writing a letter to the court, which must be postmarked by January 31, 2022.
those in the nationwide class would receive up to $0.96, while those in the Illinois subclass would receive up to $5.75. Per the settlement agreement, the individual payout will vary depending on how many users submit a valid claim — if fewer people do, the individual payout could be more.
