TikTok Agrees to Pay $400 Million to Settle DOJ Child Privacy Violation Lawsuit
The US Department of Justice has reached a monumental $400 million consent decree with TikTok, resolving a federal enforcement lawsuit initiated in 2024.
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The lawsuit alleged that TikTok unlawfully collected data from underage users without parental consent and failed to promptly honor parental account deletion requests under COPPA. Under the settlement terms, TikTok must implement rigorous third-party age verification and establish mandatory data deletion pipelines.
Legal scholars emphasize that the $400 million fine marks one of the largest regulatory penalties ever levied against a social media platform for youth privacy infractions.