TikTok agrees to $400m settlement to resolve US children’s privacy litigation
Summary
TikTok and its former parent company ByteDance agreed to pay $400 million to settle a US lawsuit accusing them of breaking children’s privacy laws. The case involved allegations that TikTok collected personal information from children under 13 without parental permission.Key Facts
- The US Department of Justice sued TikTok and ByteDance in 2024 over children’s privacy violations.
- The lawsuit claimed the companies did not get parental consent to collect data from users under age 13.
- TikTok will pay $300 million now and $100 million later if a previous FTC order against TikTok’s predecessor is lifted.
- In 2019, TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly, paid a $5.7 million fine for similar privacy violations.
- ByteDance agreed in January to create a mostly US-owned joint venture to protect American data and prevent a TikTok ban.
- TikTok requires all users to enter their birth dates and uses systems to detect and remove accounts of children under 13 who lie about their age.
- The settlement aims to strengthen privacy protections for children without a long court battle.
- TikTok reported having hundreds of staff trained to moderate underage users and has deleted tens of thousands of underage accounts.
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