TikTok and ByteDance settle US children's privacy case for $400m

TikTok and ByteDance pay $400 million to settle US children's privacy case

TikTok and parent company ByteDance agreed to pay $400 million to resolve a federal lawsuit brought by the Justice Department alleging systematic violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

The DOJ filed its complaint in August 2024 in the US District Court for the Central District of California. The core allegation: TikTok knowingly allowed children under 13 to create accounts without parental consent, collected their personal data, and ignored parental requests for deletion.

The settlement carries no admission of wrongdoing. TikTok maintains publicly that its age verification and parental controls exceed legal requirements.

The figure represents a significant reduction from an earlier $1 billion settlement framework the company had been negotiating with the FTC before the DOJ assumed jurisdiction. The final number is nonetheless roughly 70 times the $5.7 million penalty TikTok's predecessor app drew from the FTC in 2019 for comparable violations.

The Biden administration brought the original suit. Resolution came under a different administration, making this one of the cleaner examples of enforcement continuity across the transition.