“TikTok reaches $400m US children's privacy settlement”, 22 August 2026

TikTok has reached a $400m (£293.2m) settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), ending a 2024 lawsuit alleging the company violated federal children's privacy laws.

The social media firm will pay $300m immediately and a further $100m after an order vacates an earlier consent decree against its predecessor company, Musical.ly, the DoJ said on Friday…

The DoJ sued TikTok and ByteDance in 2024 for allegedly failing to protect children's privacy, and illegally collecting their information.

The defendants were accused of violating a law requiring online services aimed at children to obtain ​parental consent to collect personal information from users under 13…

TikTok did not immediately comment.

The TikTok US joint venture said in a ​court filing that all users must enter their date of birth to use the site. TikTok said it has developed sophisticated age-moderation systems that identify children under 13 pretending to be older…