TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to the United States to settle a lawsuit alleging violations of children’s privacy on the social media platform; the deal is considered one of the largest settlements in history in this area.

The agreement followed a lawsuit filed in 2024 by the U.S. Department of Justice during the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden.

The lawsuit stated that “TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, collected enormous amounts of data” about millions of users under 13 years old.

This action violated the “Federal Online Privacy Protection Act for Children” (COPPA), which was enacted in 2000. This is the same law that dozens of U.S. states are now suing the company “Meta” under.

Bert Schmitt, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, said: “Today, children and parents have better protection than when this case began.”

📷 Getty