The U.S. Department of Justice announced a $400 million settlement with TikTok, ByteDance, and affiliated companies over allegations that they violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The TikTok social media platform, owned by the Chinese technology company ByteDance, allows users to create, watch, and share short-form videos.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, alleging violations of COPPA dating back to 2019.
In 2019, Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor, agreed to a $5.7 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations of illegally collecting personal data from users under 13 without parental consent.
Last year, the FTC referred a new investigation to the DoJ, claiming that TikTok continued to breach COPPA rules despite its 2019 commitment to comply with the rules.
As a result of the investigation, the DoJ alleged that TikTok knowingly allowed children under 13 to create regular accounts outside its restricted “Kids Mode,” collected and retained their personal information without parental consent, failed to delete accounts and data when parents requested it, and maintained inadequate procedures for finding and removing underage accounts.