TikTok reaches $400 million settlement with Justice Department over children’s privacy

TikTok has reached a $400 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, ending a 2024 lawsuit alleging the company violated federal children’s privacy laws. The Justice Department said Friday that TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million after an order vacates an earlier consent decree against its predecessor company, Musical.ly. U.S. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. stated this is a major victory for American children and parents, emphasizing the need to protect children online and ensure companies meet legal obligations. Since the lawsuit, TikTok has undergone major changes, including a U.S. joint venture with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX. The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated federal laws requiring parental consent for collecting personal information of children under 13. The companies are accused of failing to honor deletion requests from parents and not removing accounts belonging to children under 13. This settlement follows a trend of lawsuits against social media companies over children’s safety and privacy, with several countries considering bans on young users. Meta Platforms, parent company of Instagram, is currently on trial in Oakland, California, over allegations of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).