TikTok agrees to $400 million settlement with U.S. over child privacy violations

Short-form video platform TikTok has reached a significant settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, agreeing to pay $400 million to resolve allegations of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The agreement addresses concerns that the platform improperly collected personal data from children under 13 without parental consent.

According to the Justice Department's announcement, TikTok will pay $300 million upfront. The remaining $100 million will be disbursed after a previous consent order against Musical.ly, TikTok's predecessor, is withdrawn by the court. This penalty is among the largest ever secured in a federal COPPA case, with Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stanley Woodward hailing it as a "major victory for American kids and parents."

The lawsuit, filed by the U.S. government in 2024 on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), accused TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, of allowing children under 13 to create accounts and collecting their personal information without parental permission. This practice allegedly endangered millions of children, even when TikTok offered a "child mode" for users under 13.

ByteDance, which had previously sold most of its U.S. entity's shares earlier in the year to avoid potential sanctions from the Trump administration, retains a roughly 19.9% stake in TikTok's U.S. operations and was included in the settlement. TikTok had not yet responded to the allegations or the settlement at the time of reporting.

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This settlement is a major victory for American kids and parents.