4 April: TikTok fined £12.7m by UK data watchdog over children’s privacy breaches
The UK’s data protection regulator has imposed a £12.7m fine on TikTok for violating the privacy rights of children.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that the popular video-sharing app failed to comply with data protection law between May 2018 and July 2020.
According to the ICO, TikTok allowed up to 1.4 million UK children under 13 to access its platform, despite its own age restriction policy.
The ICO said that TikTok did not obtain parental consent for collecting and using personal data of children under 13, as required by UK law.
This means that TikTok may have used children’s data to track them and profile them, potentially exposing them to harmful and inappropriate content.
The ICO’s commissioner John Edwards said: “TikTok should have known better. TikTok should have done better. Our £12.7m fine reflects the serious impact their failures may have had.”
TikTok said it disagreed with the ICO’s decision, which relates to May 2018 – July 2020.