President Donald Trump may have found a new way to fund his Washington, D.C. glow-up.
The Trump administration is reportedly nearing a $400 million settlement with TikTok over alleged child privacy violations, with sources telling ABC News the money could help bankroll Trump’s lavish “beautification” projects, including a giant 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.
The proposed settlement would resolve a lawsuit filed by the Biden administration in 2024, which accused TikTok and parent company ByteDance of illegally collecting data from children under 13 without parental consent, in violation of federal child privacy laws.
The Justice Department alleged TikTok illegally collected data from millions of children, continued serving them ads, and exposed them to content intended for adults.
“TikTok knowingly and repeatedly violated kids’ privacy, threatening the safety of millions of children across the country,” then-FTC Chair Lina Khan said when the lawsuit was announced.
But instead of funding child privacy enforcement or online safety efforts, the money appears earmarked to bankroll Trump’s monument-filled makeover of the nation’s capital.
White House officials have reportedly spent weeks discussing whether the settlement funds can legally be used for Trump’s pet arch project, which the president has been promoting with growing enthusiasm, according to ABC News.
Trump toured parts of the National Mall on Thursday night to tout his “beautification” agenda, telling reporters construction on the arch would begin “very soon.”
“It’s going to be one of the most beautiful arches in the world. If you look at Paris… they have the Arc de Triomphe. It’s the number one tourist attraction, even more so than the Eiffel Tower,” he said.
The proposal would mark a striking departure from how Justice Department settlements are typically handled, with such funds generally used to address harms tied to the alleged misconduct.
It also appears to clash with the Trump administration’s own past rhetoric. During Trump’s first term, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions cracked down on settlements that diverted money away from victims.
Former Attorney General Pam Bondi reinstated similar restrictions, writing that settlements should “first and foremost” compensate victims or punish unlawful conduct.
The arrangement could also invite conflict-of-interest scrutiny over Trump’s role in helping broker TikTok’s American-backed deal.
The app briefly went dark last year after Congress passed legislation requiring TikTok to split from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a U.S. ban.
Trump later signed an executive order allowing it to continue operating while negotiations over a sale continued.
Earlier this year, TikTok finalized a multibillion-dollar restructuring deal backed by several Trump allies and major Republican donors, while ByteDance retained a minority stake.
“I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok!” Trump wrote at the time.
The proposed TikTok windfall would come on top of the administration’s separate push for a new $10 billion “Presidential Capital Stewardship Program” to fund large-scale construction and “beautification” projects across Washington, including the giant arch Trump insists will outshine Paris’ nearly 200-year-old landmark.
“There are 59 triumphal arches throughout the world, and this will be number 60,” Trump said.
“But we are going to have one that’s going to be, I think, superior to anybody else’s. It’s going to be a little bit larger, and I think a lot more beautiful.”
