Sunita Somvanshi
The U.S. Department of Justice announced a $400 million settlement with TikTok and ByteDance, resolving litigation over the platform’s handling of children’s personal data. The settlement represents one of the largest recoveries ever obtained in a case involving the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a 1998 federal law requiring companies to obtain parental consent before collecting information from users under 13.
The settlement is structured in two parts: TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and $100 million more upon entry of an order vacating a 2019 Federal Trade Commission consent decree against Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor company.
The Justice Department filed its complaint against TikTok, ByteDance, and affiliated entities in 2024 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, on referral from the FTC. The allegations charged that TikTok allowed millions of children under 13 to create and use accounts and collected their personal information without the parental consent required by law and its implementing regulations.
“This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents. The Department’s priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations,” said Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr.
Since the 2024 complaint, TikTok has undergone changes in ownership, management, compliance practices, and privacy controls. The company implemented stronger age-verification mechanisms and expanded parental oversight features. The settlement resolves allegations only; the Justice Department did not make a determination of liability, and the settlement includes no requirement that TikTok admit wrongdoing.
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate, of the Civil Division, stated: “Companies that collect children’s personal information must comply with the law.”
The settlement announcement arrived days after Senators Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote to TikTok’s chief executive and U.S. chief over a reported experiment that disabled an algorithmic harm-reduction safeguard for approximately 10 percent of U.S. users. The experiment, disclosed on Aug. 20, prompted public criticism from the bipartisan pair over the company’s approach to user safety.
The settlement parallels prior enforcement against Musical.ly, which paid $5.7 million in 2019 to settle FTC charges over similar violations of the children’s privacy law. TikTok acquired Musical.ly in 2017 and merged it into its own platform.
The federal government’s settlement with TikTok reflects enforcement of long-standing requirements that platforms collecting information from young users comply with child privacy statutes.
