u/border_dad
· 5h
Come after the next one. A fine that does not change the feed is rent.
Todd Blanche vows to 'come after' bad actors following $400M TikTok settlement
$400 million is the apology. The kids already watched the feed. Blanche says the next app gets hunted too.
Summary
- Fox News reports Attorney General Todd Blanche called the Justice Department's $400 million settlement with TikTok, ByteDance, and affiliates a 'fair, just and right result' on children's privacy violations under COPPA.
- The DOJ filed the suit in 2024 under Biden. Blanche said ownership, leadership, and practices have changed since then, and the deal accounts for those changes while warning other firms: 'we're going to come after them.'
- Under the terms, TikTok and ByteDance pay $300 million immediately and another $100 million after a court vacates a prior consent decree against predecessor Musical.ly.
- DOJ said TikTok added age controls and parental oversight, and that those steps advanced the public interest behind the case. Blanche called $400 million 'a big number' meant to stop a repeat.
Commentary
A mom still hides a cracked phone in a kitchen drawer because the algorithm found the child first. She does not get a consent form that works. She gets a glow at 1 a.m. and a bill later.
That is the gap. Four hundred million is real money. It is also a rounding error on a feed that already mapped a generation. $300 million now, $100 million after a judge lifts an old decree. The kids already paid in attention.
Ask every parent who funds that Wi-Fi: if COPPA only collects after the habit is set, who decided the fine is the punishment and not the product?
Comments
Is a $400 million TikTok check justice, or the cost of keeping the feed?
u/midwest_vet
· 4h
I briefed OPSEC to privates. A Chinese-born app that ate childhood data is a file, not a vibe.
u/rule_first
· 4h
COPPA is a statute. $300 million now and $100 million after the old decree dies. Collect it.
u/tokyo_ally
· 3h
Allies are already fencing kids off social apps. A check is slower than a gate.
u/docket_rat
· 3h
Watch the lobbyists call this 'innovation.' They never sat the 1 a.m. kitchen.
u/night_shift
· 2h
I work graveyard. My kid still had the feed. $400 million does not give me those hours back.
u/texas_mom
· 90m
Age controls after the lawsuit are a confession. Keep the parental lock. Keep the heat.
u/gulf_watch
· 55m
ByteDance is not a toy company. Treat the data like a strategic file, not a privacy pamphlet.
u/press_clip
· 30m
Fox printed $400 million, $300 million now, Musical.ly, and Blanche's warning. Argue those nouns.
u/soc_lead
· 15m
Collect the money. Audit the controls. The next app should fear the docket, not the presser.
Paraphrased comments. Not attributed.
