TikTok has reached a settlement of $400 million regarding children’s privacy in the United States
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance reached a $400-million settlement on Friday to address the U.S. Justice Department’s claims that the short-video app breached children’s online privacy regulations.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against TikTok and ByteDance in 2024, accusing them of not adequately safeguarding children’s privacy and unlawfully gathering their information.
The defendants faced allegations of breaching a law that mandates online services targeting children to secure parental consent before collecting personal information from users under the age of 13.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward stated that the Justice Department’s priority “is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations.
TikTok has yet to provide a response.
As part of the settlement, TikTok will make an immediate payment of $300 million, followed by an additional $100 million contingent upon the issuance of an order vacating a previous consent decree established with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 concerning TikTok’s predecessor, Musical. ly.
As part of the consent agreement, the FTC stated that TikTok, formerly known as Musical. ly, was aware that young children were using the app and had not obtained parental consent to collect their names, email addresses, and other personal information. It incurred a penalty of $5.7 million.
In January, ByteDance reached an agreement to create a majority American-owned joint venture aimed at safeguarding U.S. data and preventing a ban on the app utilized by over 200 million Americans.
The government observed that since the complaint was lodged, TikTok has experienced considerable alterations in its ownership, management, compliance functions, and privacy practices.
The DOJ stated that the settlement “ensures that American families continue to benefit from stronger protections without the delay and uncertainty of protracted litigation.
The TikTok U.S. joint venture stated in a court filing that it mandates all users to provide their date of birttoto access the site. TikTok announced that it has created advanced age-moderation systems designed to identify children under 13 who have misrepresented their age.
According to the court filing, TikTok employs hundreds of personnel who specialize in underage moderation, leading to the deletion of tens of thousands of underage accounts.
