TikTok has been fined $15.9 million (£12.7 million) by the UK’s data regulator over violations of the data protection law, including processing personal data of children without parental consent.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-based tech conglomerate ByteDance, violated its own community guidelines by allowing children under the age of 13 to use the short-video platform, according to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). TikTok requires users to be at least 13 in order to sign up on the platform; however, a large number of children were allowed to create an account by the company.
The violations took place between May 2018 and July 2020. According to ICO, TikTok, during this time, failed to put adequate measures in place to effectively monitor who was using the platform and remove children.
“There are laws in place to make sure our children are as safe in the digital world as they are in the physical world,” said Information Commissioner John Edwards. “TikTok did not abide by those laws.”
The minister added that children’s data may have been used for tracking and profiling purposes, with TikTok potentially exposing them to harmful and unsuitable content.
The company disagreed with the ICO’s decision, a TikTok spokesperson said, adding the popular short-video platform “invests heavily” to prevent children from using it.
“We invest heavily to help keep under 13s off the platform and our 40,000 strong safety team works around the clock to help keep the platform safe for our community.”
TikTok is being subjected to intense regulatory scrutiny around the world. Concerns are that it might be forced into handing over sensitive user data to the Chinese government under the country’s strict laws. Following ByteDance’s own revelation that some of TikTok’s staff based in China could access the European user data, several states sprang into action to launch crackdowns on the app, banning it from official devices.
TikTok has been suspended from government-issued devices in the UK, US, New Zealand, Canada, and most recently, Australia.
