TikTok Child Privacy Settlement Reaches $400 Million With US Government

TikTok has agreed to a tiktok child privacy settlement worth $400 million to resolve a Justice Department lawsuit alleging the platform violated federal children’s privacy law, marking one of the largest settlements of its kind on record. The deal stems from a 2024 suit filed under the Biden administration, which alleged TikTok and parent company ByteDance collected “vast amounts of data” on millions of users under the age of 13.

What the TikTok Child Privacy Settlement Covers

The lawsuit centered on alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law enacted in 2000 that restricts how companies can collect data from users under 13 without verified parental consent. Under the terms of the settlement, TikTok and ByteDance will pay the Department of Justice $300 million immediately, with a further $100 million due once the government formally vacates a related 2019 consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission.

“Children and parents are better protected today than they were when this case began,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, announcing the settlement. As part of the broader agreement, Musical.ly — the app that preceded and was folded into TikTok — was separately required to pay a $5.7 million fine for its own COPPA violations and commit to seeking parental consent for underage users going forward.

Not the First, and Not the Largest Looming Case

TikTok’s penalty follows a pattern of major COPPA settlements against large platforms. Google’s YouTube paid $170 million over similar violations in 2019, while Epic Games paid $275 million in 2022. TikTok’s $400 million settlement now stands as one of the largest in that lineage, though it may not hold that distinction for long: Meta is currently facing a jury trial over COPPA violations alleged by attorneys general from 29 U.S. states, with potential penalties reportedly running into the hundreds of billions of dollars if the company is found liable.

When the original TikTok lawsuit was filed, government attorneys said more than 170 million teenagers were using the app, which they argued was effectively “directed to children” without adequate age verification or parental consent mechanisms in place.

A Settlement That Predates TikTok’s Ownership Shake-Up

Notably, the lawsuit predates last year’s split of TikTok’s U.S. operations from its original Chinese ownership structure, and the settlement itself applies specifically to TikTok’s China-based operations rather than the newly restructured American business. TikTok’s U.S. operations are now 81 percent owned by a consortium of American investors, with ByteDance retaining a 19 percent stake following the divestment President Trump backed after President Biden had pushed for an outright ban or forced sale.

The Justice Department noted that TikTok has “undergone significant changes” since the lawsuit was filed, including to its ownership structure, privacy practices, and platform controls aimed at younger users, though it did not detail any further enforcement action beyond the financial penalty.

What It Signals for Platform Regulation

The tiktok child privacy settlement adds to a growing body of enforcement actions targeting how major platforms handle underage users’ data, and its size is likely to be cited as a benchmark in ongoing and future children’s privacy litigation against other tech companies. With Meta’s own COPPA trial now underway and carrying potentially far larger financial stakes, this settlement may prove to be just the opening chapter in a broader regulatory reckoning over how social platforms handle young users.

Reporting via BBC News.

Related reading:

• Meta gives kids two hours a day on Instagram and Facebook
• Microsoft’s Quantum Leap: A Rare Glimpse Inside the Microsoft Quantum Lab in Denmark