The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in the UK has imposed a penalty of £12.7 million on TikTok for violating children’s data protection laws. In a September 2022 Notice of Intent, the ICO had initially proposed a fine of £27 million, but ultimately lowered it to £12.7 million. The penalty was issued due to TikTok’s unauthorized use of children’s personal data without parental consent, failure to take adequate measures to remove underage users from the platform, and lack of verification of users’ ages. UK Information Commissioner John Edwards stated that TikTok failed to comply with laws aimed at safeguarding children in the online world, and the fine reflects the severity of their negligence.
While this finding will please many privacy and children’s advocates, many others do not believe it is enough. Tara Taubman-Bassirian, a privacy advocate and EU GDPR specialist, has questioned why the fine was reduced by half, with no injunction to delete the data unlawfully collected. She believes this could be interpreted as an implicit approval of illegal activity, if the violator pays the price.
TikTok is a popular social media platform, but the ICO’s fine shows that it has not taken sufficient action to protect the data of its young users from misuse. The company has paid the fine and has started to take steps to comply with data protection laws, but the case serves as a reminder of the need to be vigilant and protect the data of minors.
Key Points:
- TikTok has been fined £12.7 million (about $15.7 million) for breaches of UK data protection laws.
- The ICO’s Notice of Intent in September 2022 stated a potential fine of £27 million, but the final fine was reduced to £12.7 million.
- John Edwards, the UK Information Commissioner, commented that TikTok did not abide by the laws in place to protect children in the digital world, and that the fine reflects the serious impact their failures may have had.
- Tara Taubman-Bassirian has questioned why the fine was reduced by half, with no injunction to delete the data unlawfully collected.
- The case serves as a reminder of the need to be vigilant and protect the data of minors.