&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "TikTok agrees to pay $400 million fine over kids' privacy violations in US")
TikTok Inc. and Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd. agreed to pay a $400 million settlement with the US Department of Justice over claims that the platform has violated online privacy law. The settlement, which needs court approval, followed months after ByteDance closed a long-awaited deal to transfer parts of its US operations to American investors to fix national security concerns.
The matter dates back to 2024 when the Justice Department sued TikTok on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission, accusing the company of allowing millions of children under the age of 13 to create accounts with no knowledge of their parents or consent, while making it hard for parents to request the deletion of those accounts.
The suit claimed that even accounts created in a "Kids Mode" also made for users younger than 13 gathered email addresses and other personal information. Over the development, the video-sharing platform didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
How much exactly does TikTok have to pay?
The suit confirmed that TikTok will pay $300 million initially and $100 million more once an order is filed vacating a prior consent decree against TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly. DOJ added that the settlement was among the largest in a case involving the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
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“This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement. “The department’s priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations. This resolution secures a substantial recovery while reinforcing the protections that families expect and deserve," he added.
Under the settlement, TikTok would no longer face court oversight of its privacy practices. Since the DOJ filed its lawsuit, the company has seen major shifts in ownership and privacy policy, and has strengthened protections for younger users by improving age-verification tools and expanding parental controls, according to the statement. The case traces back to 2019, when the US filed a COPPA lawsuit against Musical.ly, an app ByteDance acquired in 2017 and later folded into TikTok.
