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San Francisco, United States: TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to resolve a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice over claims it violated federal children's privacy laws.
The payout marks one of the largest recoveries ever obtained under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Chinese parent company ByteDance, which retains a 19.9% stake in TikTok US after selling a majority share to avoid a Trump administration ban, is also named in the settlement.
Under the agreement, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and $100 million once a prior consent decree involves predecessor Musical.ly is vacated.
Federal regulators jointly sued the platform in 2024, alleging it improperly collected personal data from users under 13 without parental permission, even on accounts set up in ‘Kids Mode’.
The US resolution comes amid a broader global crackdown, as regulators in the European Union and the United Kingdom also pursue investigations into TikTok's child safety and age-verification practices.
