September 24, 2026
A California federal judge on Thursday refused TikTok’s bid to trim claims from a proposed class action alleging that the platform exploits the private information of users under 13, saying at a hearing that the question of whether previous TikTok settlements bar the plaintiffs’ claims should be saved for later.
U.S. District Judge George H. Wu said he was adopting his written tentative ruling from Wednesday that denies TikTok’s motion to dismiss claims in a second amended consolidated class complaint “without prejudice to defendants’ renewal of their res judicata and release defenses at an appropriate later stage.”
Judge Wu had said in the tentative ruling that TikTok did not establish that the consumer plaintiffs are covered by the settlements based on the record available at the pleadings stage.
“I don’t see why I would [grant the motion] at this point,” Judge Wu said at the Thursday hearing.
The plaintiffs are parents and guardians of children under 13 who allege TikTok collected and exploited the children’s personal information without parental notice and consent and in violation of their privacy rights.
They allege that TikTok knowingly allowed and encouraged children to create accounts so it could collect their “intimate, deeply intrusive data points.” Collected data includes, among other information, minors’ names, ages, profile images, photographs and videos, audio files, usage information and location data, the suit alleges.
TikTok, the suit asserts, “engaged in this unlawful behavior for one reason — profit.”
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The users are represented by Derek W. Loeser and Cari Campen Laufenberg of Keller Rohrback LLP, Eric Kafka of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll LLP and Steven Bloch of Silver Golub & Teitell LLP.
Read TikTok Loses Bid to Trim Kids’ Data Privacy Suit in Calif..