US judge signals rejection of part of TikTok privacy settlement

On September 19, a federal judge in Los Angeles appeared to reject a portion of TikTok and ByteDance's proposed $400 million settlement with the US Justice Department. The app had agreed to settle allegations of violating US children's online privacy laws in August. Under the deal, TikTok was to pay $300 million immediately and an additional $100 million if a court dissolved a 2019 consent decree from the Federal Trade Commission.

However, US District Judge George H. Wu indicated he was inclined to reject this part of the agreement, scheduling a hearing for Monday. The judge expressed concerns that the proposed termination of the decree was not adequately tailored to the alleged change in circumstances. The FTC had previously criticized Musical.ly (which was later absorbed by TikTok) for gathering personal information from young children without parental consent.

The consent decree requires TikTok to continue reporting and record-keeping obligations until 2029. The $400 million settlement is tied to a 2024 lawsuit filed by the Justice Department, accusing TikTok and ByteDance of failing to protect children's privacy and unlawfully collecting their data, which allegedly violated a law requiring parental consent for users under 13.

ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, has since taken steps to address these concerns, such as creating an American-owned joint venture to safeguard US user data and implementing robust age-moderation systems.