TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a U.S. government lawsuit over children’s privacy.
The Justice Department announced the deal on Friday. It is one of the largest settlements ever reached under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA.
The case began in 2024. The government accused TikTok of collecting personal data from millions of users under the age of 13 without getting proper parental consent. Officials also said the company made it hard for parents to delete their children’s accounts and information.
Under the settlement, TikTok will pay $300 million right away. It will pay another $100 million once a 2019 court order involving its predecessor app, Musical.ly, is lifted.
The Justice Department said TikTok has made major changes since the lawsuit was filed. These include updates to ownership, management, and privacy practices. The company has also added stronger age checks and better tools for parents to control what younger users can do.
“This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement.
TikTok has not yet issued a detailed public comment on the agreement.
The deal ends the long-running federal case without TikTok admitting any wrongdoing. It also removes ongoing court supervision of the company’s privacy practices that came from the earlier Musical.ly settlement.
Reference links
- https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-secures-400m-settlement-tiktok-and-bytedance-resolve-childrens-privacy
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyr0l45xjro
- https://www.axios.com/2026/08/21/doj-tiktok-biden-lawsuit-settlement
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/21/tiktok-settlement-children-privacy
- https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/21/tech/tiktok-settlement-justice-department-child-privacy
