TikTok to pay $400m to US in one of largest child privacy settlements
TikTok has agreed to pay $400m (£293m) to the US to end a lawsuit alleging its platform violated children‘s privacy, marking one of the largest ever settlements over the issue. The deal stems from a 2024 suit by the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden alleging TikTok and its parent company ByteDance collected […] The post TikTok to pay $400m to US in one of largest child…
TikTok has reached a $400 million settlement with the US government to resolve allegations that its platform violated children's privacy, marking one of the largest settlements of its kind. The agreement was reached as part of a 2024 lawsuit by the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden, which alleged that TikTok and its parent company ByteDance collected excessive data on millions of users under the age of 13, thus violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate stated that children and parents are now better protected than when the case began. This settlement follows similar penalties paid by other companies, such as Google and Epic Games, for COPPA violations. Meta is also facing potential penalties that could exceed hundreds of billions of dollars for alleged COPPA violations.
The lawsuit, which began this week, accused Meta of targeting child users and profiting from them. The settlement involves only TikTok's operations in China, as the US-based business and operations were separated last year. ByteDance, the privately held company behind TikTok, was recently valued at $550 billion. TikTok and ByteDance will pay $300 million and $100 million, respectively, as part of the deal. Additionally, ByteDance's predecessor, Musical.ly, paid a $5.7 million fine for COPPA violations.
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