The Trump administration will appeal a district court judge’s rejection of a proposed settlement with TikTok over charges that the app violated the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal information from users younger than 13.
The deal would have vacated a 2019 settlement between TikTok and the Federal Trade Commission over the charge that the company’s predecessor, Musical.ly, violated the same law.
Last month, U.S. District Court Judge George Wu in the Central District of California refused to approve the agreement, writing that the government failed to prove the 2019 order should be set aside.
That order required TikTok to pay $5 million and comply with numerous conditions going forward.
The Justice Department said in its bid to scrap the deal that those conditions were “no longer necessary to serve the public interest.”
The government elaborated that the prior settlement grew out of practices by Musical.ly, as opposed to “the TikTok platform as it exists and operates today.”
Earlier this year, ByteDance sold TikTok’s U.S. operations to a joint venture of investors including Oracle, which is run by Larry Ellison, an ally of President Donald Trump.
But Wu ruled that the change in ownership didn’t justify vacating the prior order.
READ ALSO: Publicis expands Marcel, taps Hagedorn as first CEO
“While there have been significant legal developments concerning TikTok in the years since the Consent Order was issued, nothing has changed regarding defendants’ legal obligations under COPPA,” he wrote, using an acronym for the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
“There is nothing inherent in the ownership change that renders the aims of the Consent Order accomplished or its enforcement no longer necessary,” he added.
He allowed the Justice Department to amend its request for settlement approval and refile it.
Instead, the administration said in papers filed Thursday that it planned to appeal Wu’s order.
“After meeting and conferring, the United States declines to renew its consent motion and rests on the current record before this Court, because there is nothing further for this Court to consider,” the Justice Department wrote.
The deal Wu rejected would have resolved an August 2024 complaint alleging that the app — then owned by the Chinese company ByteDance — allowed children 12 and under to bypass a “Kids Mode” setting that would have restricted data collection.
When the Justice Department sought to settle, it said the claims were “allegations only” and that there had not been a determination of liability.
Discover more from The Industry
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
