TikTok has agreed to pay $400m to the US government to settle a lawsuit alleging that the platform violated children’s privacy laws, marking one of the largest settlements involving child privacy protections.

The settlement follows a 2024 lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden. The case alleged that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, collected large amounts of personal data from millions of users under the age of 13.

The alleged practices violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law introduced in 2000 to protect children’s personal information online.

Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said the agreement would provide greater protection for children and parents compared with when the case was first filed.

TikTok is not the first major technology company to face penalties under COPPA. Google’s YouTube paid $170m in 2019, while Epic Games agreed to pay $275m in 2022 over alleged violations.

Meta is also facing a major legal challenge related to COPPA, with attorneys general from 29 US states seeking potentially significant penalties over allegations involving child users on Instagram and Facebook.

The TikTok lawsuit dates back to before the separation of the company’s US business and operations from its original China-based structure. The settlement specifically concerns TikTok’s operations in China.

ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is privately held and was most recently valued by investors at around $550bn.