TikTok and parent company ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice over claims that the video-sharing platform violated federal children’s privacy laws, the department announced on Friday.
COPPA bars websites from gathering the personal information of children younger than 13 without parental permission. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission jointly sued TikTok in 2024, alleging that it had placed the safety of millions of children in jeopardy by collecting their personal data without parental permission. In 2019, the US filed a COPPA lawsuit against an app called Musical.ly, which ByteDance bought in 2017 and then merged into TikTok. Children ages 13 and over can use TikTok.
They claimed that TikTok allowed children to use the app in addition to collecting and using personal data from young users without letting their parents know. In July, the European Union accused TikTok of failing to protect children through account settings that can expose them to risks like cyberbullying and predatory behavior, putting the company at risk of a large fine.
It’s “one of the largest recoveries ever obtained” from a case involving the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the statement continued. The EU said minors’ accounts should only be visible to those they have given permission to.
