U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Saturday morning that the internet must be safe for children. The attorney general was referring to a $400 million settlement with TikTok and ByteDance as evidence the Justice Department will act when companies fail to protect young users online.
“The internet has got to be a safe place for children,” Blanche said in a Fox News interview. “If companies and entities are not doing what they’re supposed to do to make sure that happens, we’re going to come after them.”
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The settlement resolves a 2024 lawsuit accusing TikTok and ByteDance of violating federal children’s privacy law. Under the agreement announced Friday, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million after a court order vacates an earlier consent decree involving Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor. The Justice Department said the recovery is one of the largest ever obtained in a case involving the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA.
Blanche said the settlement reflects both the government’s enforcement priorities and changes TikTok has made since the lawsuit was filed.
“This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement. “The Department’s priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleged TikTok and ByteDance knowingly allowed children under 13 to create accounts, collected personal information without required parental consent and failed to honor some parents’ requests to delete accounts and data.
COPPA requires online services directed to children, or services that knowingly collect information from children under 13, to notify parents and obtain verifiable consent before collecting personal information.
The Justice Department said TikTok has made significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance operations and privacy practices since the complaint was filed. Officials said those changes include stronger safeguards for younger users, improved age-related controls and enhanced parental oversight.
Blanche said TikTok today is “a much different company” than it was when earlier concerns arose, adding that the settlement was “fair, just and right” while still requiring a substantial payment for past conduct.
Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said companies that collect children’s personal information “must comply with the law” and that the settlement reflects the department’s commitment to enforcing protections for children.
Meta and YouTube also face litigation
The settlement comes as courts in California are weighing a separate wave of claims over whether major social media companies should be held responsible for harms allegedly tied to their platform designs. In March, Straight Arrow reported a California jury found Meta and YouTube liable in a case brought by a young woman who said she became addicted to social media as a child and teen. Jurors awarded $3 million in damages.
The California case focused on product-liability claims, with plaintiffs arguing that features such as infinite scroll, algorithmic recommendations and engagement tools were designed in ways that encouraged compulsive use. Meta and Google, YouTube’s parent company, disputed the verdict and said they planned to evaluate or appeal the decision. Their lawyers argued the platforms were not responsible for the plaintiff’s alleged harm.
The Justice Department said the TikTok settlement resolves allegations only and includes no determination of liability.
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