The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to resolve a 2024 case alleging violations of children’s online privacy rules. The ByteDance-owned platform will pay $300 million immediately, while a further $100 million depends on a future court order involving Musical.ly, according to reports from The Hacker News and The Verge.
The government alleged that TikTok collected personal information from children without first providing parental notice or obtaining permission. It also alleged that the service failed to remove children’s accounts after parents requested their deletion.
The case centers on COPPA obligations
The allegations involve the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, the federal law governing how online services collect personal information from children. The statute places specific obligations on services directed at younger users and on platforms that know they are collecting data from them.
The agreement resolves the government’s allegations. It does not, by itself, establish that TikTok violated COPPA or any other law.
The $400 million figure makes the case significant for large consumer platforms that collect account and usage data from younger audiences. It also puts attention on deletion procedures, since the Justice Department’s claims include allegations that parental requests to remove children’s accounts were not properly handled.
Part of the payment is tied to Musical.ly
The final $100 million payment depends on a court ending an earlier consent decree involving Musical.ly, the short-form video app that was later integrated with TikTok. That earlier order applied before the service became part of the current TikTok platform.
The timing of the court order that would trigger the additional payment remains unclear. The Justice Department’s announcement did not specify what compliance measures TikTok may have to adopt under the settlement, and it is also unclear whether the deal has received every required form of judicial approval.
