TikTok Agrees to $400 Million US Settlement Over Children’s Privacy
TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million (£293 million) to the United States government to settle allegations that it unlawfully collected children’s personal information, in one of the largest privacy settlements involving the protection of minors.
The agreement resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2024 during the administration of former President Joe Biden. The case accused TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, of collecting “vast amounts of data” from millions of users under the age of 13.
Prosecutors alleged that the practice violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law enacted in 2000 to regulate the collection of personal information from children.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said the settlement represented progress in protecting young users.
“Children and parents are better protected today than they were when this case began,” he said.
TikTok’s settlement ranks among the largest penalties imposed under COPPA. Google-owned YouTube paid $170 million in 2019 to resolve similar allegations, while Epic Games agreed to a $275 million penalty in 2022.
Meta is separately facing potentially much larger financial penalties after attorneys general from 29 U.S. states accused the company of violating children’s privacy laws through Facebook and Instagram. A jury trial in that case began this week.
The TikTok case predates last year’s restructuring of the company’s U.S. operations, which separated them from its original China-based business. The settlement announced by the Justice Department applies specifically to TikTok’s operations in China.
ByteDance, which remains privately held, was most recently valued by investors at approximately $550 billion.
Under the settlement, TikTok and ByteDance will make an initial $300 million payment to the Department of Justice. A further $100 million will be paid once the government withdraws a 2019 consent decree involving the Federal Trade Commission.
The agreement also relates to Musical.ly, the predecessor to TikTok under ByteDance’s ownership. Musical.ly previously agreed to pay a $5.7 million penalty over alleged COPPA violations and committed to obtaining parental consent for users younger than 13.
The Justice Department did not announce additional penalties against TikTok beyond the financial settlement. However, it said the company had “undergone significant changes” since the lawsuit was filed, including changes to its ownership structure, privacy policies and controls designed to protect younger users.
When the lawsuit was launched, U.S. attorneys said TikTok had more than 170 million teenage users in the country and argued that the platform was “directed to children.” They alleged that TikTok failed to adequately determine users’ ages and did not consistently obtain parental permission for children under 13.
The case is part of broader U.S. efforts to address TikTok’s handling of user data and its ownership by ByteDance.
In 2024, former President Biden backed legislation that would have required ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a ban. President Donald Trump subsequently supported a divestment arrangement, which was completed last year.
Under the new ownership structure, a consortium of investors controls 81% of TikTok’s U.S. business, while ByteDance retains a 19% interest.
