UK Watchdog fines TikTok $15 million for Breach of Data Protection Law, Misuse of Children Data

New Delhi (India), 5th April 2023: On Tuesday, the UK fined the Chinese video app TikTok 12.7 million pounds for a number of data security laws violations, including failing to use children’s personal information lawfully.The action comes in response to a decision made by the UK government last month to block TikTok on all official cell phones due to security fears. TikTok is a Chinese-owned social media app.

In spite of TikTok’s own policies prohibiting users under the age of 13 from opening accounts, the country’s information watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), believes that in 2020, up to 1.4 million UK children under the age of 13 were able to use the app.

According to UK data protection legislation, organisations that provide information services to children under 13 must have parental or guardian consent before using personal data.

John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner said, “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.”

He added, “TikTok should have known better. TikTok should have done better. Our 12.7 mn pounds 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.”

Edwards claims that under-13s were improperly allowed access to the site, and TikTok collected and used their personal information. This indicates that it’s possible that their information was used to monitor them and create profiles of them in order to deliver “harmful, inappropriate content at their very next scroll.”

Additionally, TikTok is charged with failing to conduct sufficient investigations to find and remove minors from its site. According to the findings of the ICO investigation, some senior employees voiced internal concerns about children under the age of 13 using the site without being blocked. According to the ICO, TikTok’s response was insufficient.