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TikTok and ByteDance Agree to $400 Million Settlement Over US Children's Privacy Violations

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13 sources across 11 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • Der Spiegel Germany · Centre-left · ~50% staff-owned
  • Deutsche Welle Germany · Centre · Public · German federal public-law corporation
  • The Guardian United Kingdom · Centre-left · Scott Trust Limited
  • BBC News United Kingdom · Centre · Public · Licence fee, royal charter
  • The Daily Star Bangladesh · Centre · Mediaworld Ltd
  • Folha de S.Paulo Brazil · Centre · Grupo Folha (Frias family)
  • La Tercera Chile · Centre-right · Copesa (Saieh family)
  • El Espectador Colombia · Centre-left · Grupo Santo Domingo
  • South China Morning Post Hong Kong · Centre-right · Alibaba Group
  • Tempo English Indonesia · Centre-left · PT Tempo Inti Media
  • Al Jazeera Qatar · Centre-left · State-affiliated · Qatari government funded
  • The Korea Herald South Korea · Centre-right · Herald Corporation (Yeongpoong Group)
  • CNN United States · Centre-left · Warner Bros. Discovery

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice regarding the illegal collection of data from minors. The settlement resolves allegations that the platform violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal information from users under age 13 without parental consent. Under the terms of the agreement, TikTok will pay $300 million immediately and an additional $100 million once a court vacates a 2019 consent decree involving Musical.ly, the predecessor to TikTok. The Department of Justice described the payment as one of the largest recoveries ever obtained in a COPPA case.

The lawsuit, filed in 2024, alleged that TikTok knowingly allowed children to use the app and failed to honor parental requests to delete accounts. Some reports noted that even accounts created in a designated Kids Mode gathered email addresses and other personal data. In response, the TikTok US joint venture stated in court filings that it now requires all users to provide a date of birth and employs hundreds of staff to identify and delete tens of thousands of underage accounts.

This legal resolution follows a period of significant structural change for the company. To avoid a potential ban under the Trump administration, ByteDance agreed to a deal in which a consortium of US investors, including Oracle and Silver Lake, took a majority stake in TikTok's US operations. The Department of Justice noted that the company has since implemented substantial changes to its ownership, management, and privacy practices.

Beyond the US, TikTok is facing similar scrutiny. The European Union has launched a probe under the Digital Services Act to determine if account settings expose minors to cyberbullying and predatory behavior. Additionally, the United Kingdom's communications regulator, Ofcom, is investigating whether the app does enough to protect children from harmful content and is specifically examining its age verification model.

Some reports mentioned that the Trump administration previously considered using the settlement funds for beautification projects, such as renovating the White House ballroom and the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, though the final destination of the funds was not officially confirmed.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
These outlets emphasized the global crackdown on TikTok and the specific risks to children, such as cyberbullying and predatory behavior.
Centre
These outlets focused on the legal mechanics of the settlement and the broader trend of regulators ramping up enforcement against social media companies.
Centre-right
These outlets highlighted the political context of the settlement, framing it as a victory for the app under the second Trump administration and detailing the divestment process.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.