TikTok Agrees to Pay $400 Million in the US Over Lawsuit on Illegal Collection of Children's Data

The Core of the Allegations: Millions of Children's Accounts Without Parental Consent

In 2024, the US Department of Justice, acting on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), charged the social network TikTok with improperly registering the accounts of millions of American users who had not yet turned 13. According to the regulator, the registration process did not require obtaining parental consent, which, according to Bloomberg, made the process unlawful. An additional problem cited was the difficulty of deleting a TikTok account upon a request from the parents of minor users. Taken together, these circumstances formed the basis for charging the platform with unlawfully collecting personal data on minors residing in the US.

Structure of the Fine: $300 Million Now and $100 Million Later

ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, agreed to pay a fine of $400 million in this lawsuit. Under the terms of the agreement reached this week, the payment will be made in two stages: the company will first remit $300 million, and a further $100 million will be paid after the completion of the legal procedures related to the FTC's 2019 claims against the platform Musical.ly, which is considered a predecessor of TikTok. Under that earlier lawsuit, the Chinese company had already paid a fine of $5.7 million.

What Changed After the Creation of the US Joint Venture

In January 2026, ByteDance agreed to form a joint venture with American investors that is to be responsible for TikTok's US assets and to manage the personal data of local users. In a filing with the court, this joint venture stated that it now requires all users to provide their date of birth upon registration. The company has developed sophisticated algorithms that detect users under 13 who have provided inaccurate age information. According to a source, compliance with these requirements is overseen by a staff of several hundred moderators who regularly delete tens of thousands of accounts belonging to users under 13.

Contradictory Data

The characterization of the deal transferring TikTok's US business under US control is presented inconsistently across different sources. The basis of the article (3dnews.ru) and the context of the data case refer to a "joint venture with American investors" formed in January 2026. Meanwhile, RFI (26.09.2025) reports that Trump approved the "sale" of Chinese TikTok's US business to American companies, while a later RFI piece (22.01.2026) describes the event as "the US taking control of TikTok's US business." Thus, both the terminology (joint venture versus sale versus control) and the chronology differ: the deal's approval is dated to September 2025, while the actual assumption of control is dated to January 2026. Both versions are presented for completeness.

Status of the Agreement and Prospects

The pre-trial agreement concluded between TikTok and the US Department of Justice this week (late August 2026) is not final: it will require approval by the US courts. Until it is ratified by a court, the $400 million sum and the associated obligations to protect the data of minors remain subject to judicial review and are not an enforceable ruling.