Image source, ReutersImage caption, TikTok has been under pressure in the US since 2024.
The deal stems from a 2024 suit by the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden alleging TikTok and its parent company ByteDance collected "vast amounts of data" on millions of users under the age of 13.
Doing so was against the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a federal law enacted in 2000. It is the same law that dozens of US states are now suing Meta over.
Children and parents are better protected today than they were when this case began," assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said.
While the TikTok lawsuit predates last year's split of TikTok's US business and operations from its original base of China, the settlement only involves TikTok's operations in China.
The justice department did not detail on Friday any action against TikTok beyond the fine. But the department noted that since it sued the platform, TikTok has "undergone significant changes," including to its ownership, privacy practices and platform controls for young users.
When the lawsuit was filed, attorneys for the US said there were more than 170 million teenagers using TikTok and that the app was "directed to children." Yet, it did not effectively gauge the age of users or get parental consent for use from those underage.
In 2024, former President Biden pushed for TikTok to be either banned, or have the company divest its US operations. President Donald Trump went on to support divestment of the app, which occurred last year.
Its US operations are now 81% owned by a consortium of investors, while Bytdance maintains a 19% stake.
A representative of TikTok did not respond to the BBC for comment.
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Informação baseada em material público de BBC World, reescrito pela redação ULTRA NOTÍCIAS.
