TikTok Agrees to $400 Million Child Privacy Settlement

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to pay US$400 million ($559 million) to settle a US Department of Justice lawsuit alleging violations of US children’s online privacy laws. The case, brought jointly by the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission in 2024, claimed TikTok collected and retained personal information from children under 13 without parental consent and allowed them to use the platform despite its age restrictions. The department said TikTok would pay $300 million immediately and a further $100 million after a court vacates a previous consent decree involving Musical.ly, the app acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and later merged into TikTok. Officials described the settlement as one of the largest recoveries under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, which prohibits websites from collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental permission. TikTok did not immediately comment. The settlement comes amid growing international scrutiny of TikTok and other social media companies. The European Union has accused TikTok of failing to provide sufficiently protective default account settings for minors, potentially exposing them to cyberbullying and predatory behaviour. The UK communications regulator Ofcom is investigating whether TikTok complies with legal obligations to protect children from harmful content, including whether its age-verification system is effective. Australia has adopted a stricter approach, prohibiting children under 16 from using major social media platforms and threatening companies with fines of up to $50 million if they fail to block underage users. The UK, Canada and Indonesia have announced similar plans, while the EU is developing its own age-restriction policy. By contrast, the United States has no comprehensive national framework. A proposed under-13 social media ban has stalled, while an alternative bill requiring platforms to limit addictive design features and provide parental controls faces uncertainty in the Senate and criticism from child-safety advocates and state attorneys-general.

TikTok has agreed to pay $400m to the US government to settle allegations that it violated children’s privacy laws, making the case one of the largest settlements of its kind. The lawsuit was brought by the US Department of Justice in 2024 under former President Joe Biden. It alleged that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, collected extensive personal data from millions of users under 13 without adequately verifying their ages or obtaining parental consent, in violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Under the settlement, TikTok and ByteDance will immediately pay $300m to the Department of Justice. A further $100m will be paid if the government withdraws a 2019 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission. The agreement follows an earlier COPPA-related case involving Musical.ly, ByteDance’s predecessor, which paid a $5.7m fine and agreed to obtain parental consent for users under 13. The Justice Department said TikTok had made significant changes to its ownership structure, privacy practices and controls for young users since the lawsuit was filed. The settlement concerns TikTok’s China-based operations and follows last year’s separation of the company’s US business from its original Chinese base. A consortium of investors now owns 81% of TikTok’s US operations, while ByteDance retains 19%. The case comes as other technology companies face scrutiny over children’s privacy. Google’s YouTube paid $170m in 2019, and Epic Games paid $275m in 2022 for alleged COPPA violations. Meta is currently defending a separate lawsuit brought by attorneys general from 29 US states, who accuse Facebook and Instagram of targeting and profiting from children. TikTok did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to pay $400 million to settle allegations brought by the US Justice Department over violations of children’s online privacy laws. Under the agreement, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and an additional $100 million if a court vacates a prior consent decree involving Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor. The Justice Department described the settlement as one of the largest recoveries ever obtained under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law requiring online services directed at children to obtain parental consent before collecting their personal information. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission sued TikTok and ByteDance in 2024. They alleged that TikTok knowingly allowed children to use the platform without adequate parental consent and exposed their personal data to unlawful collection. The government said TikTok has made significant changes since the lawsuit was filed, including changes to its ownership, management, compliance operations and privacy practices relating to younger users. TikTok did not immediately comment on the settlement. The agreement comes as TikTok faces growing scrutiny from regulators worldwide. Earlier in 2026, ByteDance sold a majority stake in its US entity to avoid a potential ban by the Trump administration. In Europe, the European Union opened a probe under the Digital Services Act in 2024 and later accused TikTok of failing to adequately protect children through account settings that could expose them to unwanted contact, cyberbullying and predatory behavior. The United Kingdom also began investigating whether TikTok is doing enough under British law to protect children from harmful content. The settlement resolves the US privacy case but does not end the broader regulatory challenges facing the platform.