The agreement resolves US allegations that TikTok collected personal information from children under 13 without adequate parental consent

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a US government lawsuit over alleged violations of children’s privacy laws, marking one of the largest recoveries secured under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Also read: Ruger speaks out after tiktoker’s viral death remark

The US Department of Justice announced the settlement on Friday, August 21, 2026, saying TikTok would pay $300 million immediately, with another $100 million payable after a court order vacates an earlier consent decree involving Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor.

The TikTok privacy settlement resolves litigation concerning compliance with COPPA and its implementing regulations. The Justice Department described the agreement as one of the largest recoveries ever obtained in a case involving the federal children’s privacy law.

COPPA generally prohibits operators of online services from knowingly collecting, using or disclosing the personal information of children under 13 without providing notice to, and obtaining consent from, their parents.

The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission sued TikTok, ByteDance and affiliated companies in August 2024, alleging that the platform had allowed millions of children under 13 to use its regular service without their parents’ knowledge or consent.

The government alleged that TikTok collected and retained extensive personal information from those children and frequently failed to honour parents’ requests to delete their children’s accounts and data.

The allegations extended to TikTok’s children’s version of the service. According to the government’s complaint, accounts created in the platform’s “Kids Mode” could still result in the collection and retention of email addresses and other personal information.

The case was particularly significant because the government said TikTok and its predecessor companies had already been subject to a 2019 court order requiring measures to ensure compliance with children’s privacy protections.

The 2024 complaint alleged that the company nevertheless continued to allow children under 13 to create and use accounts, while collecting their information and failing in some cases to respond adequately to parental deletion requests.

The settlement brings the latest chapter of the dispute to a close, although the underlying allegations were claims made by the US government rather than a judicial finding that TikTok was liable.

The agreement also illustrates the growing regulatory scrutiny facing major social media platforms over the collection and use of children’s data.

For parents, the dispute centres on a fundamental question of digital privacy: whether platforms can reliably prevent children below the statutory age from entering services and ensure that their personal information is not retained without parental approval.

The substantial financial settlement underscores the seriousness with which US authorities are approaching those obligations.

TikTok had not immediately responded to requests for comment on the agreement, according to the information provided.

The case also comes amid broader scrutiny of TikTok in the United States, where the platform has faced separate regulatory and national security controversies concerning its ownership by ByteDance and the handling of user data.

The children’s privacy litigation, however, concerns alleged violations of COPPA rather than those separate national security issues.

Also read: Freelanews – TikTok Placement & Advertising Rate Card

The settlement is therefore a significant warning to social media companies that children’s access controls and data practices remain under close federal scrutiny, particularly where platforms collect information from young users without verified parental consent.