Privacy & Cybersecurity Law Blog

On August 21, 2026, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a $400 million settlement with TikTok, ByteDance, and affiliated entities (“TikTok”) resolving a lawsuit the DOJ filed in 2024 concerning alleged violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) and a 2019 consent decree entered against TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.

The 2024 case followed an earlier enforcement action involving Musical.ly. In 2019, Musical.ly agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company collected personal information from children under 13 without obtaining parental consent, as required by COPPA.

In the August 2024 lawsuit, the DOJ alleged that TikTok violated COPPA and the 2019 consent decree by allowing children under 13 to create TikTok accounts; collecting, and retaining personal information from those users without parental consent; and failing to honor certain parental requests to delete children’s accounts and information.

According to the DOJ, TikTok will pay $300 million under the settlement and an additional $100 million once the 2019 consent decree is vacated. The settlement does not impose injunctive relief on TikTok and no determination has been made that TikTok violated COPPA. The DOJ highlighted that TikTok has “implemented extensive measures designed to strengthen safeguards for younger users, improve age-related controls, and enhance parental oversight.”

The settlement resolves the DOJ’s 2024 lawsuit against TikTok and replaces the 2019 consent decree with TikTok’s continuing obligations under COPPA and other applicable law.