TikTok will pay $400 million to settle a Department of Justice lawsuit over alleged violations of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA, according to an announcement by the agency on Friday, August 21.
The lawsuit, filed in 2024, accused TikTok of allowing millions of children under 13 to use the platform and of collecting their personal information, including data for targeted advertising, without notifying parents or obtaining their consent. COPPA requires platforms to obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting data from children under 13. The case follows a prior precedent: in 2019, according to TechCrunch, TikTok paid $5.7 million for violations of the same law committed by its predecessor Musical.ly. For Latino families in the United States, where the app has a broad base of young users, the settlement demonstrates that online child protection translates into concrete regulatory consequences. In Mexico, the resolution arrives at a moment when the debate over children's data on digital platforms is also present.
According to TechCrunch, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and an additional $100 million once a court vacates a prior consent decree against Musical.ly. The Department of Justice described the agreement as one of the largest recoveries obtained in a COPPA case. The settlement includes stricter age controls, additional safeguards for minors, and greater parental oversight, and does not require TikTok or ByteDance to admit liability. The Verge reported that the Department of Justice noted that, since the lawsuit was filed, TikTok has changed its ownership structure, compliance functions, and privacy practices, and has strengthened measures to protect young users.
The settlement comes months after TikTok launched a new joint ownership structure in the United States in January. The resolution stands as a benchmark for how child privacy is policed on platforms that also operate in Mexico, with compliance as the next chapter.
This article was written with the assistance of artificial intelligence based on verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.