TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to the US government to settle allegations that it failed to protect children’s privacy, in one of the largest US settlements involving online privacy laws.
The case dates back to 2024, when the US Department of Justice, under former President Joe Biden, accused TikTok and its parent company ByteDance of collecting large amounts of personal data from millions of users under 13 without properly obtaining parental consent.
The practice allegedly violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law passed in 2000 to protect children online.
Under the settlement, TikTok and ByteDance will pay $300 million to the Justice Department immediately. Another $100 million will be paid if the government withdraws a 2019 consent decree issued by the Federal Trade Commission.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said the agreement means children and parents are now better protected than when the case was filed.
The allegations are not the first COPPA case involving a major technology company. Google’s YouTube paid $170 million to the US government in 2019, while Epic Games agreed to pay $275 million in 2022 over similar violations.
Meta is currently facing a much larger legal battle. Attorneys general from 29 US states have accused the owner of Facebook and Instagram of targeting children and profiting from them. A jury trial in that case began this week, with potential penalties running into hundreds of billions of dollars.
The TikTok settlement covers the company’s operations in China and comes after major changes to TikTok’s US business. Last year, TikTok’s US operations were separated from its original China-based structure.
The Justice Department said TikTok has made significant changes since the lawsuit was filed, including changes to its ownership, privacy practices and controls designed to protect younger users.
The case also involves Musical.ly, the predecessor to TikTok and ByteDance. Under a 2019 agreement, Musical.ly agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine and take steps to obtain parental consent for users under 13.
When the US government filed the lawsuit in 2024, it said TikTok had more than 170 million teenage users and accused the platform of being directed at children while failing to properly determine users’ ages or obtain parental permission for underage users.
The settlement comes amid a broader political fight over TikTok in the United States. Biden had pushed for the app to be banned or for its US operations to be sold. President Donald Trump later supported a sale, which took place last year.
A consortium of investors now owns 81% of TikTok’s US operations, while ByteDance retains a 19% stake.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.
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