TikTok fined £12.7m by UK regulator child protection failures

TikTok has been fined £12.7m by the UK's data watchdog for several breaches of the law designed to protect underage children from using its platform.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said TikTok allowed up to 1.4 million children under 13 to use its platform in 2020, which was against its terms of service. However the fine is less than half the £27m originally threatened.

Despite the multiple infractions, the Chinese-base app owned by internet firm ByteDance, said it disagreed with the decision and would consider its options.

The regulator slashed the potential fine, which it first announced in September last year, after deciding not to pursue an initial finding that the company had unlawfully used “special category data”. However, it upheld its findings that TikTok failed to ensure that users under 13 had permission from their parents or carers to use the platform.

It also did not carry out adequate checks to identify and remove these children from its site despite concerns being raised to senior members of staff.

“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 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 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.”

TikTok said: “While we disagree with the ICO’s decision, which relates to May 2018 – July 2020, we are pleased that the fine announced today has been reduced to under half the amount proposed last year. We will continue to review the decision and are considering next steps.”

In 2019, US regulators hit the company with a £4.5m fine for similar practices related to improper data collection from children under 13.

The controversial firm also on Tuesday found itself on the outer when Australia became the latest country to ban the app from its federal government’s devices.

Last month the UK government said it would block TikTok from its devices and networks over safety concerns, with the Scottish Government following suit.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com