The TikTok data privacy class action paid $27.84 per person to most U.S. claimants and $167.04 per person to Illinois residents who had created videos on the app. Both payments came out of a $92 million settlement fund that resolved claims TikTok collected biometric data and shared viewing information without consent. The claim deadline was March 1, 2022, and the settlement is closed. No new claims are being accepted.
The Two Payment Tiers
Payments went out in two amounts. Nationwide class members received $27.84. Illinois class members received $167.04, roughly six times as much.1Mashable. TikTok Data Privacy Settlement Payouts
The Illinois tier existed because the settlement created a separate subclass for Illinois users whose claims fell under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, a statute that lets individuals sue for money damages when their biometric data is collected without consent. Under the settlement formula, each Illinois claimant received the same base share as a nationwide claimant plus five additional shares.1Mashable. TikTok Data Privacy Settlement Payouts
Why the Per-Person Amount Landed Where It Did
Before any money reached claimants, the $92 million fund was reduced by attorneys’ fees and administrative costs. The court awarded class counsel roughly $29 million in fees.2Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. Judge Approves $92 Million TikTok Settlement Plaintiffs’ lawyers had initially requested one-third of the fund, over $30 million.3Bloomberg Law. TikTok $92 Million Privacy Deal Inadequate, Class Objector Says What remained was divided pro rata among valid claimants.
The class was huge on paper. Roughly 89 million U.S. users were eligible. If every one of them had filed, each nationwide claimant would have received about $0.96 and each Illinois claimant about $5.75.4International Association of Privacy Professionals. TikTok Settlement Highlights Power of Privacy Class Actions The actual claim rate came in at about 1.4 percent, which is why individual payments landed where they did.3Bloomberg Law. TikTok $92 Million Privacy Deal Inadequate, Class Objector Says
When Payments Went Out
U.S. District Judge John Lee granted final approval in August 2022. An objector appealed, but the appeal was dismissed on October 12, 2022. The settlement administrator began distributing funds on October 26, 2022, through the payment methods claimants had selected on their claim forms: Venmo, PayPal, and virtual prepaid cards.1Mashable. TikTok Data Privacy Settlement Payouts As of late 2024, some claimants were still reporting on forums that they had not received their payments.5Top Class Actions. TikTok Data Privacy $92M Class Action Settlement
Who Was Eligible
The settlement covered two overlapping groups:
- Nationwide class: any U.S. resident who used TikTok or its predecessor Musical.ly before September 30, 2021.
- Illinois subclass: any Illinois resident who used TikTok to create at least one video before September 30, 2021.
No minimum age was set, and many named plaintiffs were minors. Parents were allowed to file on behalf of children. Claims had to be submitted by March 1, 2022, through TikTokDataPrivacySettlement.com. No proof of purchase was required, and each eligible person could file only one claim.5Top Class Actions. TikTok Data Privacy $92M Class Action Settlement6KING 5. TikTok Class Action Lawsuit File Claim
What the Payments Were For
The case, In re: TikTok, Inc., Consumer Privacy Litigation (MDL No. 2948), was filed in 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.7U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. MDL 2948 Details4International Association of Privacy Professionals. TikTok Settlement Highlights Power of Privacy Class Actions2Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. Judge Approves $92 Million TikTok Settlement TikTok denied any privacy violations. The Illinois tier existed because BIPA is one of the few U.S. statutes that gives individuals a direct right to sue for damages over biometric collection.
Other TikTok Settlements Are Not This One
If you’re searching for a TikTok payout and did not file a claim by March 2022, the $92 million settlement is not available to you, and no other TikTok case has produced comparable per-person checks to individual users.
In 2019, TikTok paid a $5.7 million civil penalty to the Federal Trade Commission over children’s privacy violations. That money went to the government, not to users.8Federal Trade Commission. Video Social Networking App Musical.ly Agrees to Settle FTC Allegations9Reuters. US Nears $400 Million Settlement With TikTok on Child Privacy Violations10ABC News. Trump Administration Eyeing $400M Settlement With TikTok for DC Beautification
Thousands of individual lawsuits alleging that TikTok’s addictive design harmed children’s mental health have been consolidated into MDL 3047 in the Northern District of California. TikTok settled one bellwether case on confidential terms on January 27, 2026.11BBC. TikTok Settles Social Media Addiction Lawsuit Those are individual personal injury cases, not a class action, so any recovery depends on the specific facts of a given plaintiff’s claim.