TikTok to pay $400 million in US for illegally collecting children's data

ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has agreed to pay $400 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2024 on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The lawsuit accused TikTok of illegally registering millions of user accounts for children under the age of 13 without obtaining parental consent, violating federal child privacy laws.

According to Bloomberg, the complaint also highlighted that TikTok's process for deleting accounts at the request of parents was overly complicated, further contributing to the alleged violations. The settlement requires ByteDance to pay $300 million upfront, with an additional $100 million to be paid after the resolution of a separate 2019 FTC complaint against Musical.ly, the platform that preceded TikTok. ByteDance had already paid a $5.7 million fine in that earlier case.

In January, ByteDance agreed to form a joint venture with U.S. investors to oversee TikTok's American assets and manage the personal data of its U.S. users. The joint venture told the court that it now requires all users to provide their date of birth during registration and has developed sophisticated algorithms to identify users who are under 13 but provide false age information. The company also stated it is committed to ensuring compliance with U.S. regulations regarding minors' data protection.