The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office has fined TikTok $15.9 million for misusing children’s data and breaching other protections for young users’ personal information. The watchdog found that TikTok had failed to obtain consent from parents to process children’s data as required by UK data protection laws.
The app is growing at a massive rate bringing major concerns with data security and user privacy.
The app allowed as many as 1.4 million children under 13 in the UK to use it in 2020 despite its own rules prohibiting children that young from setting up accounts. The company also failed to identify and remove children under 13 from the platform.
The penalty covered other breaches of UK data privacy law, including TikTok’s failure to inform users about how their data is collected, used, and shared.
TikTok Disagrees with Decision
The social media company disagreed with the watchdog’s decision, saying it invests heavily to keep under 13s off the platform and has improved its sign-up system since the breaches happened.
The penalty is the latest example of increased scrutiny that TikTok and its parent company, Chinese technology firm ByteDance, are facing in the West. US lawmakers are considering forcing a sale or banning TikTok outright amid growing tensions with China.
TikTok Facing Scrutiny Worldwide
Aside from the UK, Australia has also recently banned TikTok from its government devices. Concerns are rising globally that the app may share data with the Chinese government or promote pro-Beijing narratives. Governments are becoming increasingly worried about the risks that the app poses to data privacy and cybersecurity.
US Regulators Also Fined TikTok in 2019
In 2019, US regulators previously fined TikTok, which was then known as Musical.ly, $5.7 million in a similar case involving unlawful collection of children’s personal information.
TikTok’s Statement on the Fine
TikTok stated that it has a 40,000-strong safety team that works around the clock to keep the platform safe for its community. The company will review the decision and consider its next steps.
TikTok’s failure to adequately identify and remove children under 13 from the platform and its lack of consent from parents to process children’s data have resulted in a $15.9 million fine from the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office.
The company has disagreed with the watchdog’s decision and is considering its next steps. Governments worldwide are becoming increasingly concerned about the app’s potential risks to data privacy and cybersecurity, and the app is facing scrutiny in the United States and European Union.
While countries around the world are doing their scrutiny on TikTok, India banned the social media app three years back citing national security concerns, this allowed Instagram to expand its presence which will be nice topic to discuss under a marketing strategy. Washington DC investigating it, and now a news that UK fines TikTok, shows that there are serious concerns on user privacy.
If your kid is using TikTok, its better to put them and their use of the app on hold for the time being, until the path ahead is clear. T
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