The UK data regulator has fined TikTok £12.7million for several breaches, including the misuse of data relating to children.
A UK privacy agency has fined TikTok £12.7m (€14.5m) for what he considers to be several breaches of data protection laws, including the way the app handled children’s personal information.
Privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has announced that the video-sharing social network “hasn’t done enough” to check who is using its platform and did not take sufficient steps to ban underage children who were using the service. In particular, he claims that in 2020, TikTok allowed 1.4 million children under the age of 13 to use the app in violation of its own rules.
TikTok says to protect children from the social network
Today, TikTok says in its terms of service that no one under the age of 13 can use the video-sharing app. ” We monitor underage usage and will close your account if we reasonably suspect you are underage. “. In practice, as you probably know, many minors fall through the cracks of controls.
In addition to letting children on its app, the ICO notably claims that TikTok failed to properly inform users, in an easy-to-understand manner, of how it processes and shares their data. It is therefore unlikely that TikTok users, including children, will be able to make informed choices about how to engage with the app. The body adds that TikTok had not taken care to process the data it held on British users “ in a legal, fair and transparent manner “.
This decision comes just days after a scandal around personal data on TikTok. During his hearing with US senators on Capitol Hill, the app boss confirmed that some user data was being sent to China, which will likely lead several governments to turn the screw. We also know that recreational applications such as TikTok have been banned in France on the smartphones of civil servants, and the European Commission had banned the application from its members earlier this year.
