Tik. Tok and Byte. Dance agree to pay $400 million to settle

allegations over children’s online privacy, with the Justice Department citing stronger protections for young users. WASHINGTON () - Tik. Tok and its Chinese parent company Byte. Dance on Friday agreed ​to a $400-million settlement to resolve the U.S.

Justice Department's allegations the short-video app violated ‌children's online privacy. The Justice Department sued Tik. Tok and Byte.

Dance 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 Justice Department's priority "is ensuring that children are protected ⁠online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations. "​Tik. Tok did not immediately comment.

Under the settlement, Tik. Tok will pay $300 million immediately and an ​additional $100 million upon entry of an order vacating a prior consent decree entered with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 against Tik.

Tok’s predecessor, Musical.ly. As part of the consent agreement, the FTC said that ​Tik. Tok, then known as Musical.ly, had known that young children used the app and ​had failed to get parental consent to collect their names, email addresses and other personal information.

It ‌paid ⁠a fine of $5.7 million. In January, Byte. Dance agreed to establish a majority American-owned joint venture to secure U.S.

ban on the app used by more than 200 million Americans. The government noted that since the complaint was filed, Tik. Tok 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. "The Tik. Tok U.S.

joint venture said in a ​court filing ⁠it requires all users to enter their date of birth to use the site.

Tik. Tok said it has developed sophisticated age-moderation systems that identify children under 13 who misrepresented their age.⁠That ​court filing said that Tik. Tok has hundreds of personnel ​trained in underage moderation and as a result deletes tens of thousands of underage accounts.