TikTok Agrees to $400 Million Settlement with Justice Department Addressing Child Privacy Concerns
The Department of Justice reported that the app has made notable improvements in terms of privacy since the 2024 lawsuit.
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have reached a settlement with the Department of Justice regarding a lawsuit that accused the app of infringing upon children’s privacy laws. This settlement stands as one of the largest recoveries in a case pertaining to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), according to the Justice Department’s announcement.
The legal action originated from a lawsuit filed in 2024 by the Justice Department under the Biden administration. The department asserted that TikTok had violated terms set by a previous FTC settlement following its acquisition of Musical.ly. The allegations included permitting children under 13 to create accounts on the platform and unlawfully gathering data on children using its “Kids Mode.” There were also complaints that the company routinely failed to honor parental requests for the deletion of their children’s data.
In revealing the settlement, the Justice Department highlighted that TikTok has implemented substantial changes in its ownership, management structure, compliance processes, and privacy protocols. Earlier this year, TikTok established a new entity for its operations in the United States, known as TikTok USDS Joint Venture, which is overseen by a collection of investors, including Oracle and Silver Lake, while ByteDance retains a 19.9 percent stake in it.
According to the Justice Department, “The company has put in place comprehensive measures aimed at bolstering protections for younger users, enhancing age verification controls, and improving parental oversight.” These advancements are seen as having significantly benefited the issues that prompted the department’s litigation and have reinforced protections for millions of families in America.
As part of the settlement agreement, TikTok will pay $300 million upfront, with an additional $100 million due after a previous agreement with the FTC is nullified. Neither TikTok nor ByteDance has provided comments following this announcement.
This settlement marks another obstacle that TikTok has successfully navigated amid continuous scrutiny regarding its privacy practices and its connections to China. Recently, the Office of Management and Budget lifted a prior ban, allowing federal employees to use the app once more after the 2022 legislation restricted its usage on most government-issued devices.
