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Short video sharing platform TikTok is staring at a $29 million fine in UK for endangering and failing to protect the identities of children on its platform. The China-based company was found wanting after an investigation carried out by UK’s Information Commissioner Office (ICO).
The regulator in its provisional view asserted that the Bytedance-led platform may have processed data of children under the age of 13 without parental consent. Reportedly, Information Commissioner John Edwards in his findings said TikTok fell short of meeting data privacy protection requirements.
“We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with proper data privacy protections. Companies providing digital services have a legal duty to put those protections in place, but our provisional view is that TikTok fell short of meeting that requirement,” said Edwards.
Consequently, the company has been slapped with a ‘notice of intent’ which is dubbed as a precursor to the fine, which could total up to $29 million or four per cent of the company’s global annual turnover. In the process, TikTok has become one of the first social media companies to be issued such a formal notice.
TikTok in response said it will challenge the notice, “This Notice of Intent, covering the period May 2018-July 2020, is provisional and as the ICO itself has stated, no final conclusions can be drawn at this time,” said a company spokesperson.
“While we respect the ICO’s role in safeguarding privacy in the UK, we disagree with the preliminary views expressed and intend to formally respond to the ICO in due course,” the company added.
This is not the first time that TikTok has been asked to cough up fines related to child privacy matters. In early 2019, the company agreed to pay $5.7 million to US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle accusations that it had collected personal information of children on its platform by illegal means.
According to the US Department of Justice, TikTok had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), under which websites and social media platforms such as TikTok are required to obtain parental consent before harvesting the personal information of minors.-(WION)
