The Department of Justice said on Friday that TikTok and China’s ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to settle claims that the social media platform violated U.S. children’s online privacy laws.
The agency sued TikTok in 2024, alleging that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting and retaining data from its young users without notifying parents or obtaining their consent.
The lawsuit, which stemmed from a Federal Trade Commission investigation, claimed that TikTok had knowingly permitted children to create accounts and interact with adults on the platform since 2019.
In its statement on Friday, the Justice Department said that TikTok has since made significant changes to its management structure and implemented more safeguards to protect younger users, including age-related controls and enhanced parental oversight.
“Those developments have materially advanced the public interests underlying the Department’s litigation and have strengthened protections for millions of American families,” the agency said.
In January, TikTok finalized a deal to create a new ownership structure. The move was in response to a Biden-era law ordering the platform to sever ties with ByteDance over national security concerns or face a nationwide ban. TikTok is now managed by a joint venture of mostly U.S.-based investors, including U.S. software maker Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake, as well as Abu Dhabi-based MGX.
ByteDance holds a 19.9% stake in the company, giving it minority control over TikTok’s U.S. operations.
ByteDance and TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
TikTok agreed to pay $300 million immediately, and the remaining $100 million “upon entry of an order vacating a prior consent decree entered against TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly,” the Justice Department said.
The payment is among the largest settlements ever obtained in a case related to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, according to the agency.
