TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to resolve a lawsuit concerning the collection of personal data from minors, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. The settlement does not include an admission of guilt, the Department clarified, also noting TikTok’s change of ownership structure in the United States and the platform’s revised privacy practices.
The 2024 lawsuit against TikTok
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against TikTok in 2024, during the Biden administration, accusing the platform of allowing children under the age of 13 to create accounts without parental consent, in violation of U.S. law.
Online platforms in the United States set 13 as the minimum age required to create an account. However, children can bypass these restrictions by entering a false date of birth — a loophole that many critics argue technology companies have deliberately chosen to ignore.
In January, ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, was compelled to hand over control of its U.S. operations to a consortium controlled by American investors in order to secure the platform’s future in the country.
