Topline
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance agreed Friday to settle allegations it violated a digital child privacy law, meaning the company will fork over $400 million in its latest in its largest settlement to date.
The settlement was announced Friday.
Photo illustration by Cheng Xin/Getty Images
Key Facts
TikTok will immediately pay $300 million under the terms of the settlement, according to the Justice Department, which said the company will pay another $100 million to vacate an older Musical.ly consent judgement (Musical.ly was the predecessor app to TikTok).
The DOJ sued TikTok in 2024 claiming it illegally collected and kept data from children without notifying parents or receiving consent.
TikTok was also accused of knowingly letting children create regular TikTok accounts, which are for ages 13 and up, which allowed them to post and share videos and message with adults.
The Justice Department called the settlement “one of the largest recoveries ever obtained” in a case related to COPPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act that requires websites and apps to get parental consent before collecting personal data.
The Justice Department noted TikTok “has undergone significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance functions, and privacy practices,” referencing the ownership deal inked last year in which ByteDance sold a majority stake in its U.S. operations to a group of American and global investors.
TikTok did not admit to wrongdoing in the case.
Big Number
Roughly $500 million. That is how much ByteDance has agreed to pay in U.S. settlements since 2019.
Key Background
TikTok also agreed to a $92 million settlement in 2022, resolving claims it collected and profited from private user information including facial and geolocation data. The app was barred from collecting biometric and GPS data unless doing so was explicitly disclosed in its privacy policy. Prior to divesting its U.S. operations to American companies like Oracle, TikTok was repeatedly criticized for alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party. Reporting by Forbes also found ByteDance employees improperly used IP addresses and user data to spy on journalists reporting on the company. ByteDance also mishandled data from American companies and top influencers, the latter of which had their sensitive financial information stored in China.
Further Reading
TikTok Creators’ Financial Info, Social Security Numbers Have Been Stored In China (Forbes)
TikTok Spied On Forbes Journalists (Forbes)