Chinese tech giant ByteDance and its subsidiary TikTok have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging the popular short-video platform repeatedly violated U.S. children’s online privacy laws, the Department of Justice announced Friday.

The penalty resolves a 2024 lawsuit brought by the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Regulators accused the platform of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by illegally harvesting and retaining personal data from users under the age of 13 without parental notification or consent. Federal prosecutors alleged that since 2019, TikTok knowingly permitted young children to create standard accounts, enabling them to publish content and message directly with adult users.

The agreement calls for TikTok to pay $300 million immediately. The remaining $100 million is contingent upon a court order vacating a previous 2019 consent decree involving TikTok’s predecessor app, Musical.ly, which had paid a $5.7 million fine over similar child privacy violations.

Neither TikTok nor ByteDance admitted wrongdoing as part of the agreement.

The $400 million penalty sharply elevates ByteDance’s legal liabilities in the United States, bringing its total payout in federal privacy settlements to roughly $500 million since 2019. The company previously agreed to a $92 million class-action settlement in 2022 over claims it improperly collected biometric and geolocation data from users.

The Justice Department hailed the $400 million payout as one of the largest recoveries ever obtained under COPPA. Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward emphasized that safeguarding minors remains a paramount federal objective, stating the department’s priority “is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations.”

The settlement comes amid major structural overhauls for the social media giant. To avoid a total nationwide ban prompted by Biden-era national security legislation, ByteDance finalized a restructuring deal in January that transferred majority control of TikTok’s U.S. operations to a joint venture led by American investors, including Oracle Corp. and Silver Lake, as well as Abu Dhabi-based firm MGX. ByteDance currently maintains a 19.9% minority stake.

Federal officials acknowledged that TikTok has implemented substantial safety measures since the initial filing, including stricter age-verification gates, age-related content controls, and enhanced parental oversight tools. In a recent court filing, TikTok’s U.S. venture said it now mandates date-of-birth entries for all accounts and deploys specialized moderation teams alongside automated systems that delete tens of thousands of underage accounts routinely.

Justice Department officials noted that these structural changes and enhanced compliance measures paved the way for a resolution, adding that the settlement “ensures that American families continue to benefit from stronger protections without the delay and uncertainty of protracted litigation.”