TikTok, ByteDance to Pay $400 Million to Settle Children's Privacy Lawsuit

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to resolve a federal lawsuit accusing the companies of violating children's privacy laws by collecting and keeping personal information from children under 13 without parental consent.

The Justice Department announced the settlement Friday, two years after filing the case in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit alleged violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA, as well as obligations imposed under a 2019 court order involving TikTok's predecessor, Musical.ly.

TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million after a court enters an order vacating the earlier Musical.ly consent decree. The Justice Department described the total as one of the largest recoveries obtained in a COPPA case.

Federal officials sued TikTok, ByteDance and several affiliated companies in August 2024 following an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. The government alleged that TikTok knowingly allowed children under 13 to create accounts on its regular platform while collecting personal information from them without first notifying their parents or obtaining permission.

The complaint also accused the company of retaining children's email addresses and other personal information, failing to properly remove accounts belonging to younger users and making it difficult for parents to have their children's data deleted. Regulators claimed some children could avoid TikTok's age screening by signing up through outside services and that the company sometimes kept information even after learning that a user was under 13.

COPPA is a federal privacy law that gives parents control over personal information collected online from children younger than 13. Websites and online services covered by the law generally must tell parents what information they collect and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting, using, or sharing a child's personal information. Parents can also seek access to information collected about their children and request its deletion.

The law can apply even when a website or app is intended for a general audience. A service may be subject to COPPA when it has actual knowledge that it is collecting personal information from a child under 13. The actual knowledge standard placed TikTok's alleged awareness of younger users at the center of the government's claims.

The 2024 complaint cited TikTok's procedures for identifying suspected underage accounts as evidence supporting those allegations. Federal officials claimed reviewers sometimes spent only several seconds evaluating individual accounts and alleged that company employees had raised concerns about failures to remove accounts and information belonging to children.

TikTok was already subject to a federal court order stemming from an earlier children's privacy case. In 2019, Musical.ly agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve allegations that it collected personal information from children without parental consent. The resulting order required the company to comply with COPPA, remove certain accounts and information belonging to children, and maintain records showing compliance.

Musical.ly was later renamed TikTok Ltd., while Musical.ly Inc. became TikTok Inc. The government argued that those corporate changes did not end the companies' obligations under the 2019 order and accused TikTok of violating both COPPA and requirements previously imposed by the court.

A consent decree is a court-approved agreement that resolves a legal dispute and imposes binding obligations on the parties. Once a judge enters the order, a company can face additional enforcement if it fails to comply with those requirements. The earlier Musical.ly decree therefore gave federal officials a separate basis for claims concerning conduct already covered by the court order.

The Justice Department said TikTok has made substantial changes since the 2024 lawsuit was filed, including stronger safeguards for younger users, improved age controls and additional tools for parental oversight. Federal officials also cited changes to the company's ownership, management, compliance operations and privacy practices in announcing the settlement.

TikTok is resolving the lawsuit without an admission of wrongdoing. The Justice Department said the claims covered by the settlement remain allegations and that there has been no determination of liability. The agreement resolves the 2024 children's privacy litigation, with the remaining $100 million payment tied to a court order vacating the 2019 Musical.ly consent decree.