TikTok agreed to pay US authorities 400 million USD to settle a lawsuit alleging the violation of the privacy of users under 13. This is one of the largest such settlements in history.

The lawsuit was filed by the US Department of Justice in 2024 under President Joe Biden. The agency accused TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, of collecting "massive amounts of data" on millions of underage users in violation of the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), passed in 2000. Dozens of states are currently suing Meta under this same law.

"Children and parents are better protected today than they were at the beginning of this case," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Brett Shumate.

YouTube (170 million USD in 2019) and Epic Games (275 million USD in 2022) have previously paid fines for violating COPPA. Meta, however, faces fines that could exceed hundreds of billions of dollars—a jury trial began this week in a lawsuit brought by 29 states.

Under the terms of the agreement, TikTok and ByteDance will immediately pay the Justice Department 300 million USD, with an additional 100 million USD to be paid upon the revocation of the 2019 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. ByteDance's predecessor, Musical.ly, will additionally pay a fine of 5,7 million USD.

The Ministry of Justice noted that since the lawsuit was filed, TikTok has "undergone significant changes"—in its ownership structure, privacy policy, and controls for young users. At the time of the lawsuit, more than 170 million teenagers were using the platform, and the service, according to lawyers, was "oriented toward children" but did not verify users' ages or obtain parental consent.