WASHINGTON, Aug 21 — TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance on Friday agreed to a US$400 million (RM1.61 billion) settlement to resolve the United States (US) Justice Department's (DOJ) allegations the short-video app violated children's online privacy.
The DOJ sued TikTok and ByteDance in 2024 for allegedly failing to protect children's privacy and illegally collecting their information.
The defendants were accused of violating a law requiring online services aimed at children to obtain parental consent to collect personal information from users under age 13.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the DOJ's priority "is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations."
TikTok did not immediately comment.
Under the settlement, TikTok will pay US$300 million (RM1.21 billion) immediately and an additional US$100 million (RM403.9 million) upon entry of an order vacating a prior consent decree entered with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 against TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.
As part of the consent agreement, the FTC said TikTok, then known as Musical.ly, knew young children used the app and failed to get parental consent to collect their names, email addresses, and other personal information. It paid a US$5.7 million (RM23.03 million) fine.
In January, ByteDance agreed to establish a majority American-owned joint venture to secure US data and avoid a US ban on the app used by more than 200 million Americans.
The government noted that since the complaint was filed, TikTok has undergone significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance functions, and privacy practices.
DOJ said the settlement "ensures that American families continue to benefit from stronger protections without the delay and uncertainty of protracted litigation."
In a court filing, the TikTok US joint venture said that it requires all users to enter their date of birth to use the site. TikTok said it has developed sophisticated age-moderation systems that identify children under 13 who misrepresented their age.
TikTok has hundreds of personnel trained in underage moderation and, as a result, deletes tens of thousands of underage accounts.
