TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to pay $400 million to settle allegations by the U.S. Department of Justice that the short-video platform failed to
adequately protect children’s personal information.
The settlement resolves a federal lawsuit filed in 2024, in which the Justice Department accused TikTok of violating U.S. children’s privacy laws by allowing users under the age of 13 to access the platform and collecting their personal data without the required consent of their parents.
Under U.S. law, online services directed at children must obtain parental permission before collecting personal information from users under 13. The government alleged that TikTok did not consistently meet those obligations.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said protecting children online remains a priority for the Justice Department, emphasizing that companies handling children’s personal information must comply with federal privacy requirements.
Under the agreement, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately. A further $100 million will be paid once a court enters an order vacating a 2019 consent decree involving Musical.ly, the predecessor to TikTok.
The earlier Federal Trade Commission case concerned Musical.ly’s treatment of young users. According to the FTC, the company knew that children under 13 were using the service but failed to obtain parental consent before collecting information including names, email addresses and other personal data. Musical.ly agreed to pay a $5.7 million civil penalty at the time.
The latest settlement comes as TikTok continues to make significant changes to its U.S. operations amid broader scrutiny of the company’s ownership, data practices and national-security implications.
In January, ByteDance agreed to create a joint venture with majority American ownership aimed at safeguarding U.S. user data and addressing concerns that could otherwise lead to the platform being banned in the United States. TikTok has more than 200 million users in the country.
The Justice Department said the company has substantially changed its ownership structure, management, compliance operations and privacy practices since the original lawsuit was filed. Officials said the settlement would strengthen protections for children and families while avoiding the uncertainty and delays associated with prolonged litigation.
TikTok’s U.S. joint venture has told a federal court that all users are now required to provide a date of birth when registering for the service. The company has also introduced more advanced age-verification and moderation systems designed to identify users under 13 who provide false information about their age.
According to the court filing, TikTok employs hundreds of workers specifically trained to detect underage users. The company says those efforts result in the removal of tens of thousands of accounts belonging to children who are below the platform’s minimum age.
TikTok had not immediately issued a public comment on the settlement.
The agreement represents one of the largest U.S. privacy settlements involving a social-media platform and underscores the growing pressure on technology companies to demonstrate that their services adequately protect children from data collection and other online risks. Photo by Solen Feyissa, Wikimedia commons.
