TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, will pay 400 million dollars as part of a settlement with the United States Department of Justice to close a lawsuit related to the protection of minors' privacy. The case focused on the alleged violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), the U.S. regulation that governs the collection of personal information from minors under 13 years old.
The agreement includes an initial payment of 300 million dollars and another 100 million once a prior court order related to Musical.ly, the app that was later integrated into TikTok, is lifted. The Department of Justice considers it one of the largest recoveries obtained so far in a case related to COPPA.
What was the United States accusing TikTok of?
The lawsuit, filed in 2024, accused TikTok and Musical.ly of collecting personal information from users under 13 years old without obtaining parental consent.
The case also pointed out that the platform would not have properly deleted the accounts of minors, even when they had been identified or when their removal had been requested.
U.S. legislation requires that services aimed at minors, or that know they are collecting information from children, take specific measures to protect their data and obtain parental consent when necessary.
What data could be exposed?
The controversy centers on the collection of personal information associated with minors' accounts. The legal proceedings do not establish that all child users of TikTok necessarily had the same information exposed, but rather question the data collection and deletion practices applied by the platform.
Among the obligations established by U.S. regulations is the proper management of personal information collected from minors and the deletion of their data when appropriate.
TikTok must strengthen its protection measures
Since the Department of Justice filed its lawsuit, TikTok has introduced changes to its age verification, privacy, and parental supervision systems, according to the U.S. government itself.
The agreement acknowledges these advancements and establishes that the improvements implemented have strengthened the protection measures for younger users.
The Department of Justice has emphasized that the objective of the agreement is to ensure that companies that collect personal information from minors comply with the obligations established by law.
An agreement that ends a legal battle
The agreement puts an end to the litigation initiated in 2024, although the Department of Justice itself reminds that the accusations included in the lawsuit do not constitute a determination of liability by a court.
Thus, TikTok faces a new economic and regulatory cost for its practices related to minors in the United States, at a time when large tech platforms are under increasing scrutiny regarding the protection of younger users.
The 400 million dollars make this agreement one of the largest sanctions or recoveries linked to the enforcement of U.S. regulations on child privacy.