Three Dutch foundations have been given the green light by judges in Amsterdam to take TikTok to court if they fail to reach a settlement with the social media giant. 

One foundation – Take Back Your Privacy – will represent children in the class action case and a second – Massaschade & Consument – will represent adults. A third foundation, Somi, is also involved but not as a main player.

“We want to see real action from TikTok to better protect users from the abuse of their privacy and the social, mental and financial problems caused by frequent TikTok use,” Massaschade & Consument spokeswoman Lucia Melcherts said.

The foundations and TikTok now have the opportunity to negotiate a settlement, if they so wish. If they fail to reach a deal, and TikTok has submitted a defence statement, the case will be heard in full. 

The foundations are demanding billions of euros in damages from TikTok for breaching privacy regulations. They say the company illegally harvests data from its 4.5 million Dutch users.

Take Back Your Privacy is backed by the consumer association Consumentenbond. Stichting Massaschade & Consument is an independent non-profit organisation that earlier launched one of several class action cases against Airbnb.

Last September, European data protection regulators fined the Chinese-owned platform €345 million for breaching privacy laws regarding the processing of children’s personal data in the European Union.

Earlier, in 2021, the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) fined TikTok € 750,000 for violating the privacy of young children.