TikTok to pay $400m to US in one of largest child privacy settlements

TikTok to pay $400m to US in one of largest child privacy settlementsImage source, ReutersImage caption, TikTok has been under pressure in the US since 2024.ByKali HaysTechnology reporter, Reporting fromSan FranciscoPublishedJust nowTikTok has agreed to pay $400m (£293m) to the US to end a lawsuit alleging its platform violated childrens' privacy, marking one of the largest ever settlements over the issue.The deal stems from a 2024 suit by the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden alleging TikTok and its parent company ByteDance collected "vast amounts of data" on millions of users under the age of 13.Doing so was against the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law enacted in 2000. It is the same law that dozens of US states are now suing Meta over."Children and parents are better protected today than they were when this case began," assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said.While the lawsuit predates last year's split of TikTok's US business and operations from its original base of China, the settlement only involves TikTok's operations in China.Under the terms of the deal, TikTok and ByteDance will immediately pay the DOJ $300m. It will pay another $100m when the government vacates a 2019 consent decree, external with the Federal Trade Commission. As part of the agreement, the predecessor to ByteDance, Musical.ly, was required to pay a $5.7m fine for COPPA violations and ensure it sought parental consent for any user aged under 13.The justice department did not detail on Friday any action against TikTok beyond the fine. But the department noted that since it sued the platform, TikTok has "undergone significant changes," including to its ownership, privacy practices and platform controls for young users.When the lawsuit was filed, attorneys for the US said there were more than 170 million teenagers using TikTok and that the app was "directed to children." Y...