UK fines TikTok £12.7m over breach of data protection law
TikTok, a video-sharing social media application, was penalized £12.7 million by the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for “misusing” children’s data.
The social media app was previously prohibited from all UK government-owned phones due to security and data safety worries.
After conducting an investigation, the ICO declared on Tuesday that the video-sharing app had violated the nation’s data security laws.
It claimed that the violations took place between May 2018 and July 2020.
In spite of its own policies prohibiting users under 13 from opening accounts, TikTok reportedly permitted up to 1.4 million UK children under 13 to use its platform in 2020, according to the office’s analysis.
The agency added that platforms that use personal data when providing information to children under 13 must have parental permission in accordance with UK data protection law.
The UK’s information commissioner, John Edwards, commented on the development by stating that the punishment was necessary because the children’s data was at risk.
There are laws in place to guarantee that our kids are just as secure online as they are offline. TikTok disregarded those regulations, according to Edwards.
“As a result, TikTok collected and used the data of an estimated 1,000,000 users who were given access to the site without authorization.
That implies that their information may have been used to track them and create profiles of them, possibly providing offensive content on their very next scroll.
“TikTok ought to have been smarter. TikTok ought to have performed better. Our $12.7 million fine represents the potentially serious consequences of their failures.
TikTok, on the other hand, has criticized the ICO’s choice.
In addition to the UK, the US and a few other nations have voiced concerns about the ongoing use of the social media app.
Because of the “threat to security,” these nations have banned and barred the app from being downloaded in the future.
