TikTok Settles Children's Privacy Lawsuit for $400 Million, One of Largest COPPA Penalties Ever
TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleging the company violated federal children's privacy protections, the DOJ announced Friday. The settlement represents one of the largest recoveries ever obtained in a case involving the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.
Under the agreement, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and an additional $100 million after a court vacates an earlier consent decree against Musical.ly, the company's predecessor that TikTok acquired.
This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents. The Department's priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations.
U.S. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement.
History of Privacy Violations
The settlement marks TikTok's second major penalty for children's privacy violations. In 2019, Musical.ly paid $5.7 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations of COPPA violations, which at that time was the largest civil penalty the FTC had ever obtained in a children's privacy case.
The 2024 DOJ lawsuit alleged that TikTok violated the 2019 consent order and allowed children to remain on the platform for years despite already facing federal action over children's privacy. The complaint also alleged that TikTok improperly collected data even from accounts using the platform's "Kids Mode" feature and sought civil penalties of up to $51,744 per violation per day.
Legal Framework and Allegations
COPPA, enacted by Congress in 1998 and effective since April 2000, requires websites and online services to obtain parental consent before collecting personal information from children under age 13. The DOJ lawsuit focused on allegations that TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance failed to honor parental deletion requests and chose not to delete accounts even when they knew the accounts belonged to children under 13.
The settlement comes after significant changes to TikTok's corporate structure. On January 22, 2026, the company closed a joint venture deal that restructured ownership of its U.S. operations. Under the arrangement, Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX collectively hold 45 percent ownership, with each holding a 15 percent share, while ByteDance retained 19.9 percent of the entity.
Broader Industry Scrutiny
TikTok's settlement arrives amid intensifying scrutiny of social media companies over children's safety and privacy. A landmark trial against Meta Platforms is currently underway in federal court in Oakland, California, where opening arguments began on August 18, 2026. That case involves allegations from state attorneys general that Meta designed Instagram and Facebook to be addictive to minors and violated COPPA by collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent. The four states leading the case are seeking up to $1.4 trillion in penalties.
TikTok's $400 million penalty stands among the largest COPPA enforcement actions in recent years. In 2019, Google and YouTube paid a then-record $170 million fine to the FTC for violating COPPA. More recently, in 2023, Epic Games received what became the largest set of financial penalties for a COPPA violation in children's games.
Representatives for TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. The settlement follows growing global momentum toward restricting young users' access to social media platforms, with multiple countries implementing or considering bans on social media use by children and teenagers.
