TikTok agrees to $400m settlement to resolve US children’s privacy litigation

TikTok and its former parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to a $400 million settlement to resolve allegations by the U.S. Department of Justice that the popular short-form video app violated children's online privacy. The lawsuit, filed in 2024, accused the companies of illegally collecting personal information from users under the age of 13 without obtaining required parental consent.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward emphasized the Justice Department's commitment to protecting children online and ensuring companies entrusted with their data meet their legal obligations. The settlement aims to provide American families with stronger protections without the protracted uncertainty of further litigation.

Under the terms of the agreement, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately. An additional $100 million will be paid upon the vacating of a prior consent decree entered into with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2019 concerning Musical.ly, TikTok's predecessor. At that time, Musical.ly paid a $5.7 million fine for similar violations.

In January, ByteDance committed to establishing a majority American-owned joint venture to secure U.S. data and prevent a ban on the app, which is used by over 200 million Americans. The government acknowledged that TikTok has since implemented significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance, and privacy practices. The company stated that it requires all users to enter their date of birth and employs sophisticated age-moderation systems, with hundreds of trained personnel deleting tens of thousands of underage accounts.

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The Justice Department's priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations.