WASHINGTON, Sept 19 : TikTok and ByteDance’s proposed $400 million settlement with the US Justice Division hit a hurdle on Friday after a federal choose indicated he would reject a part of the settlement.
TikTok and its Chinese language father or mother firm agreed in August to settle allegations that the short-video app violated US kids’s on-line privateness legal guidelines.
Beneath the deal, TikTok agreed to pay $300 million instantly and an extra $100 million if a courtroom terminated a 2019 consent decree imposed by the Federal Commerce Fee on TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.
However US District Choose George H. Wu in Los Angeles mentioned he was inclined to reject the request to finish the consent decree and scheduled a listening to for Monday.
With out additional particulars, the courtroom “can not decide that it constitutes a sturdy treatment or that termination is suitably tailor-made to the asserted change in circumstance,” Wu mentioned in tentatively rejecting the bid to finish the decree.
The FTC mentioned in 2019 that Musical.ly, later folded into TikTok, knew younger kids had been utilizing the app however didn’t acquire parental consent earlier than amassing names, e mail addresses and different private data. Musical.ly paid a $5.7 million fantastic to settle the allegations.
The consent decree requires TikTok to keep up sure reporting and record-keeping obligations via 2029.
TikTok and the Justice Division didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Saturday.
The $400 million settlement stems from a Justice Division lawsuit filed in 2024 accusing TikTok and ByteDance of failing to guard kids’s privateness and illegally amassing their private data.
The businesses had been accused of violating a legislation requiring on-line companies geared toward kids to acquire parental consent earlier than amassing data from customers beneath 13.
The federal government mentioned TikTok had undergone vital adjustments because the lawsuit was filed, together with to its possession construction, administration, compliance features and privateness practices.
In January, ByteDance agreed to determine a majority American-owned three way partnership geared toward safeguarding US person knowledge and averting a US ban on an app utilized by greater than 200 million People.
The TikTok US three way partnership mentioned in a courtroom submitting it requires all customers to enter their date of beginning to make use of the positioning and added it developed refined age-moderation methods that determine kids beneath 13 who misrepresented their age.