US judge signals rejection of part of TikTok privacy settlement

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) — TikTok and ByteDance's proposed $400 million settlement with the US Justice Department hit a hurdle on Friday after a federal judge indicated he would reject part of the agreement. TikTok and its Chinese parent company agreed in August to settle allegations that the short-video app violated US children's online privacy laws. Under the deal, TikTok agreed to pay $300 million immediately and a further $100 million if a court terminated a 2019 consent decree imposed by the Federal Trade Commission on TikTok's predecessor, Musical.ly. But US District Judge George H. Wu in Los Angeles said he was inclined to reject the request to end the consent decree and scheduled a hearing for Monday. Without further details, the court "cannot determine that it constitutes a durable remedy or that termination is suitably tailored to the asserted change in circumstance," Wu said in tentatively rejecting the bid to end the decree. The FTC said in 2019 that Musical.ly, later folded into TikTok, knew young children were using the app but failed to obtain parental consent before collecting names, email addresses and other personal information. Musical.ly