TikTok and ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a dispute with the US Justice Department over the protection of children’s data, bringing a major legal confrontation over the short-video platform’s privacy practices to a close.
The settlement, announced by the department on Friday, follows allegations that the companies illegally collected personal information from users under the age of 13 without obtaining consent from their parents. The case has placed renewed attention on how TikTok handles the personal information of children using its platform in the United States.
“The priority of the department is to ensure that children are protected online and that companies comply with their legal obligations,” said Deputy US Attorney General Stanley Woodward.
Under the agreement, $300 million of the settlement will be payable immediately. A further $100 million will be paid once an earlier agreement between the US Federal Trade Commission and TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly, from 2019 is lifted. TikTok did not initially comment on the settlement.
The agreement comes as TikTok has sought to demonstrate that it has significantly changed its privacy policies and business practices since the Justice Department filed its lawsuit in 2024. The department specifically pointed to those changes in announcing the settlement.
TikTok’s US joint venture said in court filings that every user is now required to provide a date of birth. The platform also operates systems designed to verify users’ ages and deletes tens of thousands of accounts belonging to users under 13.
The settlement also comes against the backdrop of a broader dispute over TikTok’s future in the United States. In January, ByteDance agreed to establish a joint venture under majority US ownership in an effort to avert a ban on the application. The proposed structure is intended to protect the data of more than 200 million US users.
For TikTok and ByteDance, the agreement therefore addresses both a specific legal dispute over children’s privacy and a wider challenge to the company’s continued operation in the US market. The settlement does not erase the allegations that prompted the Justice Department’s lawsuit, but it reflects the significance Washington has attached to the protection of children’s personal information and corporate compliance with privacy rules.
Concerns over TikTok’s handling of data have also extended beyond the United States. Germany’s Culture Minister Wolfram Weimer has criticised what he described as the app’s lack of transparency and its approach to data. He has called for a European ownership structure for TikTok, arguing that the conditions should be created to “create TikTok Europe, that is, to transfer TikTok into European hands”.
Weimer said a European ownership structure would be “the most effective way to enforce European data protection, media and youth protection law”.
The $400 million settlement thus marks a significant financial and regulatory setback for TikTok and ByteDance, while underscoring the continuing scrutiny faced by the platform over the protection of children and the handling of user data.
