TIKTOK PAYS $400M TO CLOSE A CHILDREN'S PRIVACY CASE

🚨 $400 million. That's what TikTok is paying to end a Justice Department lawsuit over children's privacy.

NBC New York reports the DOJ announced the settlement Friday, closing out a case first filed in 2024.

The money comes in two parts. $300 million is due immediately. The other $100 million lands after an order vacates an earlier consent decree against TikTok's predecessor company, Musical.ly.

The suit alleged TikTok and its China-based parent ByteDance broke a federal law requiring kid-focused apps to get parental consent before collecting personal information from children under 13. It also alleged the companies failed to honor parents' requests to delete their children's accounts, and left accounts up even when they knew the users were under 13.

Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. called the deal "a major victory for American children and parents," saying it "secures a substantial recovery."

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment, per NBC New York.

The backdrop: TikTok's U.S. arm has changed hands since the suit was filed. In January the company signed agreements with Oracle, Silver Lake and Emirati investment firm MGX to form a new TikTok U.S. joint venture.

And it isn't alone. Meta is on trial right now in federal court in Oakland over alleged violations of the 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and various state statutes.

Is $400 million a real deterrent for a company this size, or just the cost of doing business?

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