TikTok has reached a $400 million settlement with the U.S. Division of Justice, ending a 2024 lawsuit alleging the corporate violated federal kids’s privateness legal guidelines.
The DOJ stated Friday that TikTok can pay $300 million instantly and one other $100 million after an order vacates an earlier consent decree in opposition to its predecessor firm, Musical.ly.
“This settlement is a serious victory for American kids and oldsters,” stated U.S. Affiliate Legal professional Basic Stanley E. Woodward Jr. in an announcement. “The Division’s precedence is guaranteeing that kids are protected on-line and that corporations entrusted with their private data meet their authorized obligations. This decision secures a considerable restoration whereas reinforcing the protections that households count on and deserve.”
Because the DOJ’s lawsuit in 2024, TikTok has undergone main adjustments, most notably within the possession construction of its U.S. arm. In January, the social video platform firm signed agreements with main traders together with Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati funding agency MGX to kind the brand new TikTok U.S. three way partnership.
Representatives for TikTok didn’t instantly reply to a message for remark Friday.
The newest lawsuit targeted on allegations that TikTok and its China-based mum or dad firm ByteDance violated a federal regulation that requires kid-oriented apps and web sites to get parental consent earlier than amassing private data of youngsters below 13. It additionally says the businesses didn’t honor requests from dad and mom who wished their kids’s accounts deleted, and selected to not delete accounts even when the companies knew they belonged to children below 13.
The settlement comes as social media corporations face an avalanche of lawsuits over kids’s security and privateness and a rising variety of international locations are banning younger children and youths from social media apps. Instagram’s mum or dad firm, Meta Platforms, is at present on trial in federal court docket in Oakland, California, over allegations it violated the 1998 Youngsters’s On-line Privateness Safety Act, or COPPA, together with numerous state statutes.
