$400 Million TikTok Settlement Resolves U.S. COPPA Allegations
Summary
The DOJ reached a $400 million settlement with TikTok, ByteDance and affiliates over alleged COPPA violations involving under-13 accounts and personal data. The deal resolves the allegations without a judicial finding of liability.
Key points
- The DOJ alleged that TikTok allowed children under 13 to create regular accounts and collected and retained their personal information without parental consent.
- The allegations included failures to delete accounts and data when parents requested it and inadequate procedures for identifying underage accounts.
- TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million if a court vacates an earlier consent decree involving Musical.ly.
- The settlement resolves the allegations; there was no judicial determination that TikTok or ByteDance was liable.
- The DOJ recognized changes since 2024 to TikTok's ownership, data management and compliance operations, including privacy-retention practices, age controls and parental oversight.
- Musical.ly, TikTok's predecessor, agreed to a $5.7 million FTC settlement in 2019 over allegations involving collection of data from children under 13.
Article Details
- Event Type
- $400 million settlement resolving U.S. allegations of Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) violations.
- Impact
- TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and an additional $100 million if a court vacates an earlier consent decree involving Musical.ly. The allegations concerned children under 13 creating regular accounts, collection and retention of their personal information without parental consent, and failures to delete underage accounts and data. The settlement resolves the litigation without a judicial finding of liability; the article also reports changes to privacy retention practices, age-related controls, and parental oversight.