In brief
A former President‑backed lawsuit accused TikTok of harvesting data on millions of children under 13, violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The Department of Justice demanded a settlement of $400 million, split into an immediate $300 million payment and a subsequent $100 million once a 2019 FTC consent decree is vacated. TikTok has since altered its privacy practices and ownership structure, with U.S. operations now owned 81% by an investor consortium. The settlement marks one of the largest penalties imposed for child‑privacy violations and follows similar fines paid by Google’s YouTube and Epic Games.
In a record‑size settlement, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to the United States to end a lawsuit accusing the platform of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The DOJ’s claim, filed in 2024 under former President Biden, alleged that TikTok collected vast amounts of data from millions of users under the age of 13 without parental consent. Under COPPA, such data handling requires explicit parental approval, which TikTok allegedly failed to secure.
The settlement requires TikTok to pay an immediate $300 million, with an additional $100 million to be paid when the U.S. government vacates a 2019 consent decree that the app had signed with the Federal Trade Commission.
The agreement is one of the largest child‑privacy settlements of all time, surpassing previous fines paid by Google’s YouTube ($170 million in 2019) and Epic Games ($275 million in 2022). Meta is also facing potential penalties that could reach hundreds of billions of dollars following parallel lawsuits from 29 U.S. states accusing it of targeting and profiting from child users on Facebook and Instagram.
While TikTok’s U.S. operations are now 81% owned by a consortium of investors and 19% by ByteDance, the company claims it has undergone significant changes to its privacy policies, ownership structure, and controls for young users following the lawsuit.
No additional punitive action beyond the fine has been publicly announced, although the DOJ noted that TikTok’s operations have been altered significantly as a result of the legal scrutiny.
