UK authorities have fined TikTok 12.7 million pounds, equivalent to $15.8 million, for breaching the country’s data-protection laws, including the misuse of children’s information.
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office said on Tuesday that the social-media platform owned by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd failed to obtain consent from parents of children on its platform and did not do enough to remove underage users.
“The laws are in place to make sure our children are as safe in the digital world as they are in the physical world,” said John Edwards, the UK’s information commissioner. “TikTok doesn’t follow those laws.”
The ICO estimates that TikTok allowed 1.4 million UK children under the age of 13 to use its platform in 2020, despite its own rules not allowing children under that age to create accounts.
“Their data could be used to track and profile them, delivering potentially harmful, inappropriate content on their next scroll,” Mr Edwards said.
TikTok said it disagrees with the fine and is reviewing the decision.
A company spokeswoman said, “We invest heavily in helping to keep under 13s off the platform and our 40,000 strong security team works around the clock to keep the platform safe for our community. ” Less than half of the amount proposed last year.
The original notice of intent to ICO led to a £27 million fine on TikTok. After considering the company’s representation, the regulator decided to reduce the penalty.
Last month, the platform announced it was adding a new screen-time limit of 60 minutes for users under the age of 18 to help young people be more aware of how much time they spend on the app.
The popular short-form video app said it will automatically add the new limit to every account belonging to young users in the coming weeks. The company said that minors will have to enter a passcode to stay on the app beyond the 60-minute limit.
“While there is no collectively supported position on the ‘right’ amount of screen time or even the effects of screen time more broadly, in choosing this range we have used current academic research from the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital and Consulted the experts.” Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety at TikTok, said in a statement last month.