On June 18, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission announced its referral of a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) against TikTok and its parent company regarding their compliance with a 2019 privacy settlement. The complaint is related to the FTC’s investigation into potential violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) and the FTC Act.

Specifically, the complaint centers around the FTC’s 2019 order that directed the operators of TikTok to pay $5.7 million for allegedly allowing children to use Musical.ly, TikTok’s predecessor, without parental consent in violation of COPPA. The settlement required TikTok to remedy the alleged violations by taking certain measures, such as removing all videos posted by U.S. users under 13 and creating a separate experience for younger users. 

The FTC rarely publicly discloses its referral of a complaint to the DOJ, but in its public statement, the FTC stated its belief that doing so in this case was “in the public interest.”