TikTok to Pay $400 Million to Settle Justice Department Privacy Suit

TikTok agreed Friday to pay $400 million to settle a Justice Department lawsuit alleging it violated the federal children’s privacy law, the department announced. The Associated Press and AFP reported that TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, is also covered by the settlement. The Justice Department called it “one of the largest recoveries ever obtained” in a case under the law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, according to AFP.

Under the terms, TikTok will pay $300 million right away and another $100 million once a court vacates an earlier consent decree against Musical.ly, the app TikTok absorbed, AP and AFP reported. ByteDance bought Musical.ly in 2017 and merged it into TikTok. The U.S. sued Musical.ly in 2019 under the same statute, AFP noted.

The law bars websites and apps from collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental permission. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission jointly sued TikTok in 2024. AFP reported that they alleged it collected data from children without parental permission and let children use the app without their parents’ knowledge, and that accounts in a “Kids Mode” for users under 13 still collected email addresses and other personal information. AP added that the suit also alleged the companies ignored parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts and kept accounts they knew belonged to children under 13.

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said, “This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents,” according to AP. The settlement resolves allegations only, and neither report describes an admission of wrongdoing. TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment, both AP and AFP said.

The agreement lands as TikTok’s U.S. ownership is changing. AP reported that in January TikTok signed agreements with investors Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form a new U.S. joint venture, and AFP said media reports put ByteDance’s stake in TikTok U.S. at 19.9 percent. AFP said it was unclear how the money would be used and noted that ABC News reported in May the administration was considering using such funds for “beautification” projects.

Children’s privacy is drawing scrutiny abroad as well. AFP reported that the European Union opened a probe under the Digital Services Act in 2024 and said in July, in a preliminary view, that TikTok’s account settings expose minors’ accounts and content too widely; the EU’s technology chief, Henna Virkkunen, said, “A high level of protection should not be an opt-in; it should be the default.” Britain’s communications regulator, Ofcom, opened an investigation in July into whether TikTok has complied with its legal obligations.

The case is one of several against large social platforms over young users. AP noted that Meta Platforms is separately on trial in federal court in Oakland, California, over alleged violations of the same federal law and of state laws.