Musical.ly (TikTok), $5,700,000
Largest COPPA penalty at the time. Musical.ly (now TikTok) collected personal information from children under 13 without parental consent.
Case identifiers
- Respondent
- Musical.ly (TikTok)
- Agency
- Federal Trade Commission
- Announced
- 2019-02-27
- Monetary relief
- $5,700,000
- Case number
- FTC File No. 172-3004
- Statutes cited
- Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) · COPPA Rule
Key facts
- 1
Musical.ly required users to provide name, email, phone number, profile picture, and sometimes geolocation.
- 2
Company knew many users were under 13 but did not obtain verifiable parental consent.
- 3
Videos uploaded by children were publicly available by default.
- 4
$5.7 million penalty was the largest COPPA fine at the time.
Primary sources
Read the original government documents. These are the authoritative records, everything on this page is derived from them.
Exercise your rights now
Generate a deletion request for $5
The FTC order binds Musical.ly (TikTok)'s future practices, but doesn't automatically delete your existing data. State privacy law (CCPA, CPA, TDPSA, VCDPA) gives you that right. OfflistMe generates a compliant deletion email pre-addressed to Musical.ly (TikTok)'s registered privacy contact.
Start for $5 →FAQ
What did the FTC charge Musical.ly (TikTok) with?+
Largest COPPA penalty at the time. Musical.ly (now TikTok) collected personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. The Federal Trade Commission cited Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), COPPA Rule.
How much did Musical.ly (TikTok) pay?+
Musical.ly (TikTok) paid $5,700,000 in monetary relief, announced on 2019-02-27. The settlement also imposed injunctive terms (see below).
Does the Musical.ly (TikTok) settlement mean my data has been deleted?+
No, the order does not automatically delete your data. You retain full rights under state privacy law (CCPA, CPA, TDPSA, VCDPA, and others) to submit your own deletion request. OfflistMe can generate a compliant deletion email pre-addressed to the respondent’s privacy contact.
How can I read the original FTC order?+
The Federal Trade Commission press release is available at https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2019/02/video-social-networking-app-musically-agrees-settle-ftc-allegations-it-violated-childrens-privacy. The case / matter number is FTC File No. 172-3004.