TikTok, ByteDance agree to $400m settlement in US children’s privacy case

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a U.S. government lawsuit accusing the social media platform of violating federal children’s privacy laws, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.

The settlement resolves a civil case filed in 2024 by the Justice Department on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which alleged that TikTok collected and retained personal information from children under 13 without obtaining the required parental consent.

Under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), online services must generally provide notice to parents and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13.

The government had alleged that TikTok allowed millions of children below the age of 13 to create and use regular TikTok accounts, despite the platform’s stated minimum age requirement. According to the 2024 complaint, the company collected personal information from those users and, in some cases, failed to delete children’s accounts and information after parents requested their removal.

The lawsuit also alleged that TikTok’s practices violated a 2019 court order stemming from an earlier case involving Musical.ly, the short-video platform acquired by ByteDance and later renamed TikTok. In that earlier case, Musical.ly agreed to pay $5.7 million to settle FTC allegations that it had illegally collected personal information from children.

The latest $400 million agreement brings the 2024 litigation to an end. Reuters reported that the settlement results in the dismissal of the case with prejudice, meaning the same claims cannot be brought again.

The allegations in the case included claims that TikTok’s age-verification and account-deletion systems were inadequate. The FTC said the company failed to consistently notify parents, obtain consent, limit the collection and use of children’s information, and delete children’s data when requested.

The case is one of the latest major regulatory actions involving TikTok in the United States, where the platform has faced scrutiny over privacy, data security and its relationship with Chinese parent company ByteDance.

The settlement does not, however, amount to a criminal conviction. The case was a civil enforcement action based on alleged violations of federal privacy requirements.

The agreement also comes after TikTok underwent significant changes to its U.S. operations and ownership structure amid broader national-security concerns surrounding the platform. A 2026 Justice Department opinion said the new TikTok U.S. Data Security Joint Venture is majority American-owned and operates independently of ByteDance.

The settlement highlights the growing regulatory pressure on major social-media platforms to strengthen age verification, parental controls and protections for children’s personal information as governments intensify scrutiny of children’s online safety.