TikTok fined US$15.8 million by UK privacy watchdog over misuse of children’s data
- ByteDance-owned app breached UK data rules by allowing children under 13 to use service, according to Information Commissioner’s Office
- TikTok previously fined US$5.7 million by Federal Trade Commission in US over misuse of children’s data
Chinese short video app TikTok has been fined £12.7 million (US$15.8 million) by Britain’s privacy watchdog for misusing children’s data over a two-year period.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said the app, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, breached UK data protection rules by allowing children under the age of 13 to sign up for the service between May 2018 and July 2020 despite claiming doing so was in violation of its terms of service.
The app also processed children’s data without the consent of their parents or guardians and failed to root out accounts held by underage users, the ICO said.
The regulator estimated as many as 1.4 million children in Britain used the platform in 2020. UK rules requires apps to seek parental consent for underage children to sign up.
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“As a consequence, an estimated one million under 13s were inappropriately granted access to the platform, with TikTok collecting and using their personal data,” he added.
“That means that their data may have been used to track and profile them, potentially delivering harmful, inappropriate content at their very next scroll.”
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The ICO said the app failed to provide proper information to members of the public using the platform about how their data was being collected, used, and shared in a way that was easy to understand.
It also failed to ensure that personal data belonging to its UK users was processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
“TikTok is a platform for users aged 13 and over. 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,” a TikTok spokesperson said.
“We will continue to review the decision and are considering next steps.”
TikTok has taken a number of steps since 2020 to update its privacy and safety infrastructure, including distributing an age appropriate privacy policy summary for users under the age of 18 and rolling out screen-time limit features for users under 18 and their families.
In 2019, TikTok agreed to pay a US$5.7 million fine after an inquiry by the Federal Trade Commission in the US over its collection of personal information from children.
The UK fine comes as the app is facing potential bans and restrictions over concerns about user data ending up in the hands of the Chinese government.
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The Biden administration is currently pressuring the app’s Chinese owners to sell or face a potential ban on all US users.
At the hearing, Chew said the company did not allow any government, including China, to manipulate its user data and was putting in place a US$1.5 billion programme to safeguard US data and monitor content.
