TikTok to pay $400 million over child privacy lawsuit
The world's fastest growing social media platform just cleared its last major legal hurdle for nearly half-a-billion dollars.
The United States government and social media giant TikTok have recently reached a staggering $400 million settlement to address allegations of violating federal child privacy laws. This settlement, one of the largest fines ever imposed for such violations, highlights the growing concern over data privacy and the protection of minors in the digital age.
The legal dispute began in 2024, when the Department of Justice under the previous administration alleged that TikTok had collected an excessive amount of data from millions of users under the age of 13 without obtaining necessary parental consent. The platform was also accused of failing to honor parent's requests to delete children's information, actions that directly contravened the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act established in 2000.
The settlement process is divided into two payments. An immediate payment of $300 million (approximately 4.8 billion Ghanaian Cedis) is made to the Department of Justice, while the remaining $100 million (approximately 1.6 billion Ghanaian Cedis) will be paid upon the government lifting a 2019 consent decree from the Federal Trade Commission.
The agreement marks a significant step in the evolving landscape of digital privacy enforcement, where major tech companies are increasingly under the microscope for their data collection and handling practices.
Written by urgent.news from GBC Ghana's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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