QUESTION
Are there any lawyers in NYC that handles social media law? Because I would like to make a case against a site that I'm a content creator for.
Asked on Sep 14th, 2022 on Arbitration - New York
More details to this question:
On June 30th, I was permanently banned from the account that I had on Tiktok for the span of two years after reaching my 70k milestone due to a viral video I made. I had reached out to support to get it back, and I was told that "due to an indication of me being under 13" I had my account permanently deleted. I thought that the initial claim was ridiculous because once you reach a certain milestone on Tiktok, you qualify for the creator fund--where you have to verify that you are over the age of 18 to start receiving payment for your content. Regardless, I submitted my appeal, where I sent U.S. Documentation that verified my age. In under 24 hours of me submitting the appeal, I had the appeal denied because the "documents didn't meet the requirements"--despite them asking for a valid ID for verification. I resubmitted the appeal, and hadn't gotten an update about the status, and I haven't received the payout for my viral video, or the money that was still left in my creator fund.
1 ANSWER
You argreed to arbitrate your disputes with TikTok when you accepted the terms of service. https://www.tiktok.com/legal/terms-of-service-us?lang=en
The terms of servcie refer to the AAA Consumer Dispute rules. https://www.adr.org/sites/default/files/Consumer-Related%20Disputes%20Supplementary%20Procedures%20Sep%2015%2C%202005.pdf
You need to wait for a decision on the appeal. If it is decided against you, you can file in AAA unless you opted out of the arbitration clause within 30 days of creating your TikTok account.
It's $200 to file (see page 12 of the rules). If the amount of money is worth pursuing, you should consult an attorney before you file.
Answered on Sep 15th, 2022 at 5:49 AM
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