TikTok and parent company ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to settle U.S. allegations that the platform violated federal children’s privacy law. The agreement resolves a Justice Department case that accused TikTok of allowing millions of children under 13 to use the service while collecting their personal information without the required parental consent.
The Justice Department announced the settlement on Friday. The agreement does not require TikTok or ByteDance to admit wrongdoing.
The Case Focused on Children Under 13
The lawsuit was first filed in 2024 and alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA. Prosecutors said TikTok failed to obtain proper parental consent before collecting information from children under 13.
The government also alleged that TikTok kept underage users on the platform for years and retained information belonging to them, including data that could be used for targeted advertising.
According to the complaint, employees had raised concerns about younger users. The government also alleged that changes to TikTok’s registration process made it harder to determine whether some users were old enough to create accounts.
The case followed an earlier federal action involving Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor. In 2019, the company agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle allegations that Musical.ly violated COPPA and committed to measures intended to prevent children under 13 from creating accounts.
Settlement Adds New Age and Parental Controls
Beyond the $400 million payment, the new agreement requires stronger age-related controls and additional protections for younger users. It also includes measures intended to give parents more oversight of their children’s activity and personal information.
The settlement arrives as TikTok faces separate scrutiny over its safety practices.
Earlier this week, senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal questioned TikTok over an experiment that reportedly disabled an algorithmic safety feature for about 10% of U.S. users. The feature was designed to reduce repeated exposure to harmful content.
The senators sent a letter to TikTok CEO Shou Chew and Adam Presser, CEO of TikTok’s U.S. business, seeking more information about the experiment and why minors were included in the control group.
That inquiry is separate from the DOJ children’s privacy settlement.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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