TikTok Reaches $400 Million Settlement with DOJ Over Children's Privacy Violations

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TikTok Reaches $400 Million Settlement with DOJ Over Children's Privacy Violations
Photo: New York Times
politics· A press review of 6 outlets

  1. TikTok reaches $400M settlement with DOJ over alleged children’s privacy law violations TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to settle with the Department of Justice (DOJ) over allegations the platform violated a children’s online privacy law, the agency said Friday. The company will pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million after a court dismisses an earlier consent decree entered against…

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    Washington Times

    TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, agreed to a $400 million settlement to resolve litigation regarding alleged violations of a children’s online privacy law, the Justice Department announced Friday.

    Breitbart

    The DOJ announced Friday that TikTok and its parent company ByteDance will pay $400 million to settle allegations related to violations of federal children’s privacy laws.

    New York Times

    TikTok Settles With U.S. Over Child Privacy Concerns for $400 Million The Justice Department resolved a lawsuit that accused the social media company of illegally gathering children’s information.

    Washington Examiner

    Under the settlement, TikTok will immediately pay $300 million to the federal government to resolve the dispute over its compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which places restrictions on online services collecting personal information from children under 13. Another $100 million will be paid after a federal court vacates a previous decree involving Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor.

    BBC News

    Published TikTok has agreed to pay $400m (£293m) to the US to end a lawsuit alleging its platform violated children‘s privacy, marking one of the largest ever settlements over the issue.

  2. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. characterized the settlement as a major achievement for American families. “This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents,” Woodward said in a statement. “The department’s priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations. This resolution secures a substantial recovery while reinforcing the protections that families expect and deserve.”

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    Washington Examiner

    “The Department’s priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said. “This resolution secures a substantial recovery while reinforcing the protections that families expect and deserve.”

    Washington Times

    “The Department’s priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations,” he said in a statement. “This resolution secures a substantial recovery while reinforcing the protections that families expect and deserve.”

  3. The dispute has a long history. Musical.ly agreed in 2019 to pay $5.7 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it illegally collected information from children younger than 13. The resulting court order imposed requirements intended to ensure the company complied with children’s privacy laws going forward.

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    BBC News

    As part of the agreement, the predecessor to ByteDance, Musical.ly, was required to pay a $5.7m fine for COPPA violations and ensure it sought parental consent for any user aged under 13.

  4. Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division highlighted the practical impact of the settlement on children and families. “The most important result is that children and parents are better protected today than they were when this case began,” Shumate said in a statement. “This settlement reflects substantial progress, secures a significant monetary recovery and brings this matter to a successful conclusion.”

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    Washington Times

    Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said that the most important result of the lawsuit is that children and parents are better protected now than they were when this case began.

  5. Teen drops high-profile social media addiction lawsuit A teenager has dropped her lawsuit against Meta, YouTube and Snapchat, which was set to go to trial later this year as part of a broader series of cases accusing social media giants of designing addictive platforms. The teen, referred to as P.M.Y., previously settled with TikTok and “chose to dismiss the remainder so she…

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    Washington Times

    A New Jersey teen has dropped her lawsuit against the owners of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube that alleged the social media platforms try to get users addicted and caused her a mental health crisis.

From the margins

4 details only one outlet reported

Independent claims that didn't surface elsewhere in our corpus. Treat as supplementary — not corroborated across outlets.

  1. 01 Washington Examiner

    But federal officials alleged those problems continued after Musical.ly became TikTok.

  2. 02 Breitbart

    Gaming platform Roblox is arguing that an 8-year-old girl gave up her right to sue the company by clicking “I agree” on its terms of service, according to court filings in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by her mother. The girl tragically took her own life at just 13 year old after being introduced to dark and violent subcultures on Roblox, TikTok, and Discord.

  3. 03 BBC News

    Doing so was against the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law enacted in 2000. It is the same law that dozens of US states are now suing Meta over.

  4. 04 Washington Times

    The settlement represents one of the largest recoveries ever obtained in a Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act case, according to the Justice Department.

Assembled from 5 corroborated claims drawn from 6 independent outlets. Every passage above is taken verbatim — Dorothy doesn't paraphrase or summarize.

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Coverage by Perspective

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Right
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Sources (6)

  • nyt
  • breitbart
  • thehill
  • washexaminer
  • bbc
  • washtimes

Original Articles (9)

Lean Right DOJ settles with TikTok for $400 million over child safety and privacy concerns — Washington Examiner
Right Gaming Giant Roblox Says Teen Suicide Victim Waived Right to Sue When She Was Just 8 Years Old — Breitbart
Right TikTok Agrees to $400 Million Settlement over Child Privacy Violations — Breitbart
Lean Right Teen drops high-profile social media addiction lawsuit — The Hill
Lean Right TikTok reaches $400M settlement with DOJ over alleged children’s privacy law violations — The Hill
Center TikTok to pay $400m to US in one of largest child privacy settlements — BBC News
Lean Left TikTok Settles With U.S. Over Child Privacy Concerns for $400 Million — New York Times
Lean Right TikTok settles $400 million children's privacy lawsuit — Washington Times
Lean Right N.J. teen drops lawsuit against Facebook, Instagram that alleged online addiction — Washington Times