TikTok has been fined £12.7 million for a number of breaches of data protection law, including failing to protect children’s personal data, according to the UK’s data watchdog.
An investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found the video-sharing app had failed to use children’s personal data lawfully, with an estimated 1.4 million children under 13 using the platform in 2020, despite its own rules not allowing children that age to create an account.
The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) breaches happened between May 2018 and July 2020, with personal data belonging to children under 13 being used without parental consent, directly contravening UK data protection law.
Following concerns about underage children using the platform being raised with senior employees, the ICO said that TikTok “did not do enough” as it failed to carry out adequate checks to identify and remove underage children from the platform.
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“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,” said UK Information Commissioner John Edwards.
“As a consequence, an estimated one million under-13s were inappropriately granted access to the platform, with TikTok collecting and using their personal data. That means that their data may have been used to track them and profile them, potentially delivering harmful, inappropriate content at their very next scroll.
“TikTok should have known better. TikTok should have done better. Our £12.7m fine reflects the serious impact their failures may have had. They did not do enough to check who was using their platform or take sufficient action to remove the underage children that were using their platform.”
Since the investigation concluded, the ICO has published the Children’s Code to help protect children in the digital world. It is a statutory code of practice aimed at online services such as apps, gaming platforms and web and social media sites, that are likely to be accessed by children.
