On August 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a $400 million settlement with TikTok Inc., ByteDance Ltd. and affiliated entities, resolving claims that they violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and its implementing regulations in their handling of children’s personal information. The matter was handled by the Justice Department’s Civil Division on referral from the Federal Trade Commission, and the settlement was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The payment is structured in two tranches: $300 million payable immediately, and a further $100 million payable upon entry of an order vacating the prior consent decree against Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor. In announcing the resolution, the Department noted that TikTok has implemented strengthened safeguards for younger users, improved age-related controls and enhanced parental oversight measures, and acknowledged significant changes to the company’s ownership, management, compliance functions and privacy practices.
Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. described the settlement as “a major victory for American children and parents,” and Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate stated that “companies that collect children’s personal information must comply with the law.” Coming five days before the Meta settlement described above, the resolution reinforces that COPPA enforcement in the United States is now being pursued at scale and in parallel by federal and state authorities, and that the remedies sought increasingly extend beyond monetary payment to structural changes in age assurance and parental controls.
Click here to read the Justice Department’s announcement of the TikTok and ByteDance settlement.
