TikTok To Pay $400M Settlement Over Online Privacy Laws

TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance agreed Friday to a $400 million settlement resolving U.S. Justice Department claims that the short-video app violated children’s online privacy laws.

Under the deal, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million once a court vacates a prior 2019 Federal Trade Commission consent decree against its predecessor, Musical.ly. 

Reuters reports the Justice Department sued the companies in 2024, accusing them of failing to protect children’s privacy and illegally collecting personal information from users under 13 without parental consent, in violation of a law requiring such consent for online services directed at children.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the department’s priority “is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations.” The settlement “ensures that American families continue to benefit from stronger protections without the delay and uncertainty of protracted litigation,” the department added. TikTok did not immediately comment.

The government noted that since the complaint was filed, TikTok has made significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance functions, and privacy practices. In January, ByteDance agreed to create a majority American-owned joint venture to secure U.S. data and avoid a potential ban on the app, which is used by more than 200 million Americans.

In a related court filing, the TikTok U.S. joint venture said it requires all users to enter their date of birth and has developed sophisticated age-moderation systems that identify children under 13 who misrepresent their age. The company employs hundreds of personnel trained in underage moderation and deletes tens of thousands of underage accounts as a result.

The earlier 2019 FTC consent decree stemmed from allegations that Musical.ly knew young children used the app yet failed to obtain parental consent before collecting names, email addresses, and other personal information; the company paid a $5.7 million fine at the time.