TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million (£293 million) to the United States to end a lawsuit that accused the platform of violating children’s privacy laws. This is one of the largest settlements ever over COPPA, the federal law that protects data from children under 13.
The lawsuit was filed by the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden, alleging that TikTok and its parent ByteDance collected 'vast amounts of data' on millions of under‑13 users, contrary to COPPA.
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said the settlement will better protect children and parents than when the case began.
Other tech giants have faced similar penalties: Google’s YouTube paid $170 million in 2019, Epic Games paid $275 million in 2022, and Meta faces potential hundreds of billions in fines from 29 states.
The settlement requires TikTok to pay $300 million immediately and an additional $100 million after the government vacates a 2019 FTC consent decree involving the app’s predecessor, Musical.ly.
The deal only covers TikTok’s operations in China, following the company’s split of its US business and ownership changes last year that now leaves 81 % ownership to investors and 19 % to ByteDance.
TikTok’s ownership changes, privacy practices and controls for young users were among the 'significant changes' cited by the DOJ after the lawsuit was filed.
When the lawsuit was first filed, attorneys said there were more than 170 million teenagers on TikTok and the app was 'directed to children' but failed to gauge age or obtain parental consent.
A TikTok spokesperson has not yet responded to queries. The settlement marks a continuing trend of increased regulatory scrutiny over how social platforms handle child data.
For more details, read the full Reuters report here.
