TikTok agrees to $400m settlement over US children's privacy lawsuit

The US Department of Justice sued TikTok and ByteDance in 2024, accusing the short-form video platform of failing to protect children's privacy and illegally collecting their information. The lawsuit said the companies violated federal law requiring online services directed at children to obtain parental consent before collecting personal details from users under 13.

The settlement announced Friday includes an immediate payment of $300m, plus an additional $100m once a court order vacates an earlier 2019 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission involving Musical.ly, TikTok's predecessor. The FTC had found that Musical.ly knew young children used the app but did not get parental consent to gather names, email addresses and other personal data; that case ended with a $5.7m fine.

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the Justice Department's priority is ensuring children are protected online and that companies holding their personal information meet legal obligations. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The department said the settlement allows American families to benefit from stronger protections without the delay and uncertainty of a long trial. It also noted that TikTok has significantly changed its ownership, management, compliance functions and privacy practices since the complaint was filed. In January, ByteDance agreed to form a US-majority-owned joint venture to secure American data and avoid a ban on the app, which is used by more than 200 million people in the US.

In a court filing, the TikTok US joint venture said all users are now required to enter their date of birth to use the platform. TikTok said it has developed age-moderation systems to identify children under 13 who misrepresent their age. According to the filing, the company employs hundreds of people trained in underage moderation and deletes tens of thousands of underage accounts as a result.