UK's watchdog fines TikTok $15.84mn for misusing children's data

UK's data watchdog fined TikTok £12.7 million ($15.84 million) for not protecting children’s privacy. According to its data, TikTok permitted around 1.4 million UK children, who were below the age of 13, to use the social platform in 2020.

As per an investigation carried out by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), data of children below the age of 13 was used by the video-sharing site without parental consent.

TikTok said it had "invested heavily" to prevent under-13s from accessing the site.

The ICO said that many people were able to get access to the site even after TikTok had set 13 as the minimum age for creating an account.

It stated that the data of children may have been used for tracking and profiling them, and potentially exposing them to inappropriate or harmful content.

Information Commissioner John Edwards said, "There are laws in place to make sure our children are as safe in the digital world as they are in the physical world. TikTok did not abide by those laws.”

"As a consequence, an estimated one million under-13s were inappropriately granted access to the platform, with TikTok collecting and using their personal data. TikTok should have known better. TikTok should have done better. Our £12.7m fine reflects the serious impact their failures may have had,” he added.

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Later speaking to BBC News, he said that TikTok had "taken no steps" to get parental consent.

"When you sign up you can be targeted for advertising, you can be profiled, your data contributes to an algorithm which feeds content. If you've been looking at content which is not appropriate for your age, that can get more and more extreme. It can be quite harmful for people who are not old enough to fully appreciate the implications and to make appropriate choices,” he stated.

(With inputs from agencies)

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