TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to pay a $400 million settlement to resolve allegations that the social media platform violated federal laws designed to protect children’s online privacy. The case was first filed in 2024 by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Biden administration, which alleged that TikTok had allowed millions of children under the age of 13 to use the platform while collecting their personal information without parental consent.
In addition to paying $400 million, the settlement includes measures intended to strengthen protections for young users on TikTok. These changes include stronger age-related controls, additional safeguards for children, and enhanced oversight capabilities for parents over their children’s activity and personal information. However, the agreement does not require TikTok or ByteDance to admit wrongdoing. The case also highlighted that despite previous federal action in 2019, TikTok continued to struggle with identifying and removing underage users from its platform, even after employees raised concerns about the presence of young users on the service.
The settlement comes amid increased scrutiny over TikTok’s approach to user safety. Just days before the agreement was reached, Bloomberg reported that TikTok had intentionally disabled an algorithmic safeguard for roughly 10% of U.S. users as part of an experiment designed to reduce the possibility that users would be overwhelmed by harmful or potentially damaging content. This decision drew criticism from lawmakers, including Republican senator Marsha Blackburn and Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal, who sent a letter questioning the company’s approach to user safety.