TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance have agreed to a $400 million settlement with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve allegations of violating children’s privacy laws.
The agreement, finalized Friday in Washington, requires TikTok to pay $300 million immediately and an additional $100 million upon the vacatur of a 2019 Federal Trade Commission consent decree against its predecessor, Musical.ly. The prior FTC action resulted in a $5.7 million fine.
Federal authorities alleged TikTok failed to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from users under the age of 13, as required by law. The Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed in 2024, sought to enforce compliance and strengthen protections for minors on the platform.
Since the complaint was filed, TikTok has implemented changes to its ownership, management, compliance functions, and privacy practices, according to the government. The company now requires all users to enter their date of birth, employs advanced age-moderation systems to identify underage accounts, and maintains hundreds of trained moderators dedicated to underage content enforcement. The platform reports deleting tens of thousands of accounts belonging to users under 13 who misrepresented their age.
The settlement ensures stronger protections for American families without the uncertainty of prolonged litigation, the Justice Department stated. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward emphasized that the department’s priority remains ensuring companies meet their legal obligations to safeguard children’s data online.
