The$J/\psi \to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$decay has been observed with a statistical significance in excess of five standard deviations. The analysis is based on an event sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the CMS experiment in 2018 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of$33.6{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$. Normalizing to the$J/\psi \to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$decay mode leads to a branching fraction of$[{10.1}_{-2.7}^{+3.3}(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.4(\mathrm{syst})]\times {10}^{-7}$, a value that is consistent with the standard model prediction.