Daniel Stoller

TikTok, the short-video app owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., is the subject of an inquiry by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department over its data practices, according to a children’s privacy advocate who says he was interviewed by the agencies.

Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp are in the firing line as Europe’s leading privacy watchdog for U.S. tech giants edges closer to delivering its first major sanctions under the region’s tough data-protection rules.

A planned Senate bill from top Republicans would require companies such as Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to obtain consent to collect people’s health or location data as part of a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Facebook Inc. agreed to pay $550 million to resolve claims it collected user biometric data without consent in one of the largest consumer privacy settlements in U.S. history.

Once again, the most populous U.S. state is moving ahead of the rest of the country in how it regulates big business. A sweeping privacy law that takes effect on Jan. 1 will give Californians new rights and powers to control their personal information. This will mean that on privacy, California has more in common with the European Union than with other U.S. states. Will any of them follow?

A top House panel unveiled long-awaited draft privacy legislation that calls for limits on sharing consumers’ information and would allow users to correct their personal data.