Exclusive | TikTok was set to pay $1B in 2024 over kids privacy breaches years before DOJs sweetheart $400M deal: sources

TikTok is nearing a $400 million truce with President Trump’s Justice Department over child data privacy breaches – a sweetheart deal as the social-media app was willing to pay $1 billion to settle the same claims in 2024, The Post has learned.In June 2024, the Biden-era Federal Trade Commission disclosed it found evidence that TikTok had knowingly collected data on kids younger than 13 without telling their parents – a violation of a federal law called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).Policymakers and online safety advocates have long pushed for tightened restrictions on targeted ads, arguing social media companies are manipulating impressionable kids and hooking them with addictive features to boost their profits.TikTok executives – who at the time were already fighting tooth-and-nail to prevent a total US ban of the app – were eager to make the case go away.In closed-door negotiations with FTC officials during the spring of 2024, TikTok agreed in principle to pay a $1 billion settlement for the violations, three sources with direct knowledge of the talks told The Post.TikTok, the sources said, was also close to agreeing to other key safety features sought by the FTC — including a ban on targeted advertising for minors, limits on late-night notifications sent to their phones.The FTC referred its findings and proposed settlement terms to the Biden DOJ, taking the unusual step of disclosing the referral in a press release, stating that it had “determined that doing so here is in the public interest.”From there, the deal quickly fell apart.Insiders said top officials at Biden’s DOJ were hesitant to finalize a settlement, fearing that cutting a deal with a company or otherwise pursuing legal action would undermine Congress’s active effort to ban TikTok through legislation.“It’s another example of how the Biden administration couldn’t get out of its own way,” said one of the sources with direct knowledge of the situati...