TikTok Class Action Lawsuit: Children's Data, Privacy Claims, and Settlements

"The TikTok lawsuit" can mean several different cases. Here is each one, what it claims, and whether it can still help you.

Children's privacy MDL (open)

Beginning in 2024 and early 2025, parents filed proposed class actions alleging that TikTok and ByteDance knowingly let children under 13 use the app and collected their personal information without notice to parents or verifiable parental consent, the standard set by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. On April 3, 2025, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation sent these cases to the Central District of California as In re TikTok, Inc., Minor Privacy Litigation, Case No. 2:25-ml-03144, before Judge George H. Wu. Plaintiffs filed a consolidated complaint on July 11, 2025 and an amended one on December 8, 2025 that added plaintiffs from more states.

Justice Department COPPA case (settling)

On August 2, 2024, the Justice Department, on referral from the FTC, sued TikTok and ByteDance in United States v. ByteDance Ltd., No. 2:24-cv-06535 (C.D. Cal.). It alleged TikTok let children under 13 create accounts, collected and kept their data without parental consent, and failed to honor parents' deletion requests, in violation of COPPA and a 2019 order against TikTok's predecessor, Musical.ly. On August 21, 2026, the Justice Department announced a $400 million settlement: $300 million up front and $100 million more if the court ends the 2019 consent decree. The settlement does not include a finding that TikTok broke the law.

The $92 million data privacy settlement (closed)

In re TikTok, Inc., Consumer Privacy Litigation, MDL No. 2948 (N.D. Ill.), alleged TikTok collected users' data, including facial data from videos, without proper consent. It settled for $92 million for U.S. users of the app before September 30, 2021, with an Illinois subclass eligible for up to six times the base payment. See our page on the TikTok $92 million settlement for details.

In-app browser tracking (withdrawn)

A separate group of cases, grouped as MDL No. 3067, alleged TikTok's in-app browser injected code that could track keystrokes on outside websites. In November 2025, the plaintiffs withdrew those claims after their own experts reviewed TikTok's source code and concluded it "was not used to collect the data of concern."

On November 6, 2025, Judge Wu denied TikTok's request to pause the children's privacy MDL and denied its motion to dismiss except for state-law claims from states where no named plaintiff lived. TikTok had argued the private case should wait for the Justice Department's lawsuit. The court disagreed, and the case moved into discovery.

The docket shows heavy discovery fights in 2026, including disputes over access to TikTok's source code. On September 8, 2026, Judge Wu denied a stipulation to adjust the deadlines for document productions and the plaintiffs' motion for class certification. No class has been certified, TikTok denies the allegations, and nothing has been proven.

The government case is on a separate track. After the August 2026 settlement, Judge Wu, who also presides over that case, said on September 18, 2026 that he was inclined to reject the part of the deal that would end the 2019 consent decree, writing that without more detail the court "cannot determine that it constitutes a durable remedy." He set a hearing for September 21, 2026. As of this update, a final ruling on that piece had not been reported. Either way, the government settlement resolves the government's claims only. It does not pay families and does not end the private MDL.

Who the defendants are now

TikTok's U.S. structure changed during the case. According to Reuters, ByteDance agreed in January 2026 to set up a majority American-owned joint venture to hold U.S. user data, and the government cited changes in ownership, management, and privacy practices when it explained the settlement. The MDL docket now lists TikTok Inc., TikTok Ltd., TikTok Pte. Ltd., TikTok U.S. Data Security Inc., TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, and ByteDance entities among the defendants, so a new owner does not erase claims about how children's data was handled in the past.

What happens next

The next major step is a motion for class certification, where the parents must show that the claims can be decided together for large groups of children. After that come expert challenges, a possible motion for summary judgment, and either a trial or a settlement. Big privacy MDLs often take several years. Our guide on how long class actions take gives realistic time frames.

The class has not been defined by the court yet. Based on the complaints, the people most likely to be covered are:

• Parents or guardians of children who used TikTok or Musical.ly while under 13.
• Children whose personal information TikTok collected without verifiable parental consent.
• Families who asked TikTok to delete a child's account or data and found the request was not honored.

Who probably does not qualify: adults who joined TikTok at 13 or older and only want to challenge ordinary ad tracking, and people outside the U.S. The earlier $92 million settlement covered most U.S. users before September 30, 2021; its claim deadline was March 1, 2022, so it cannot be joined now.

If you are worried about your teen's heavy TikTok use and mental health rather than data collection, that is a different set of cases. See our page on social media addiction lawsuits.

There is no settlement in the children's privacy MDL, so no one can say what families might receive. Here is what the record shows about money in TikTok privacy cases so far:

Case	Amount	Who gets it
Consumer Privacy MDL 2948	$92 million	Users who filed by March 1, 2022
DOJ COPPA case (2026)	$400 million	U.S. government
FTC v. Musical.ly (2019)	$5.7 million	U.S. government
Minor Privacy MDL 3144	None yet	Pending

In the $92 million settlement, the Illinois subclass could receive up to six times the nationwide payment because Illinois has the Biometric Information Privacy Act, which carries statutory damages. For how that works, see our page on BIPA lawsuits.

COPPA itself does not give parents a right to sue, which is why the MDL relies on state privacy and consumer-protection laws built on COPPA's standards. Under the FTC Act, the government can seek civil penalties of up to $51,744 per COPPA violation, per day, a figure the FTC cited when it referred the case in August 2024. Private recoveries are usually far smaller per person.

COPPA, 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501 to 6506, and the FTC's COPPA Rule, 16 C.F.R. Part 312, apply to online services directed to children and to services with actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information from a child under 13. Those services must:

• Give parents direct notice of what they collect.
• Get verifiable parental consent before collecting a child's personal information.
• Let parents review and delete a child's information.
• Keep children's data only as long as reasonably necessary.

COPPA's protections stop at age 13, so the claims center on data collected before a child's 13th birthday. The families in the MDL allege TikTok knew young children were on the platform and collected and used their personal information anyway. TikTok disputes the claims, and in announcing its settlement the Justice Department noted that TikTok has put in place measures meant to strengthen safeguards and parental oversight for younger users.

Because COPPA has no private right of action, the parents plead claims such as intrusion upon seclusion, unjust enrichment, and state consumer-protection statutes. Whether those state-law claims can proceed for a nationwide class is one of the issues class certification will test. Our guide on how class actions work explains each stage.

There is no claim deadline in the children's privacy MDL because there is no settlement. A few time points still matter:

• Staying in the class is automatic while the case is pending.
• Children get extra time in many states. Statutes of limitations are often paused until a minor turns 18, but the rules vary by state and by claim.
• The $92 million settlement is over. Its claim deadline was March 1, 2022, and the deadline to opt out or object was January 31, 2022.

Adults who used TikTok as young children

The proposed class is about data collected while users were under 13, not about how old they are today. Someone who joined TikTok or Musical.ly at age 11 in 2019 is an adult now but may still fall within the class. If that describes you, gather the same records a parent would: the username, the email or phone number on the account, and roughly when you started using the app. Because many states pause limitations periods until a child turns 18, the timing rules for these claims can differ from the rules for adults, which is one more reason to get advice on your specific dates.

If a settlement is reached in MDL No. 3144, notice will list a claim deadline and a separate date to opt out or object. The only place to file will be the court-approved settlement website.

1. Write down the basics: your child's TikTok username, the email or phone used, and roughly when they started using the app and how old they were.
2. Download the account data through TikTok's privacy settings before deleting anything. It can show when the account was created.
3. Save any deletion requests you sent and TikTok's replies.
4. Do not pay anyone to "join." No claims process is open. Read our guide to settlement scams.

Independent attorneys who handle children's privacy cases can tell you whether your family fits the proposed class or has a separate claim. A free case review takes about two minutes. For other app privacy cases, see our page on Google privacy lawsuits.