Cybersecurity Policy Report, TikTok to Pay $400M to Settle DoJ’s COPPA Lawsuit, (Aug 21, 2026)
TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice in 2024 that alleged the social media platform had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), DoJ announced today.
“Since the Justice Department filed its complaint in 2024, TikTok has undergone significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance functions, and privacy practices. The company has implemented extensive measures designed to strengthen safeguards for younger users, improve age-related controls, and enhance parental oversight,” DoJ said in a news release.
DoJ filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission. It alleged that TikTok had knowingly allowed children under the age of 13 to sign up for accounts without parental consent, retained personal information from underage users even after accounts were deleted, and disregarded parents’ requests for accounts to be deleted (CPR, Aug. 2, 2024).
DoJ, TikTok, and ByteDance Ltd. today filed a joint stipulation with the court seeking the lawsuit’s dismissal (United States of America v. ByteDance Ltd., et al., No. 2:24-cv-06535 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 2, 2024)).
“The most important result is that children and parents are better protected today than they were when this case began,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, head of DoJ’s Civil Division. “This settlement reflects substantial progress, secures a significant monetary recovery, and brings this matter to a successful conclusion.”
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