TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd., faces a fine of 27 million pounds after the privacy watchdog in the United Kingdom found the company might have breached data protection rules by failing to protect children’s data sufficiently. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it has issued TikTok with a notice of intent, and it launched its plans for a potential fine and its findings.
The provisional findings of the authority include that TikTok failed to get the necessary parental consent from children that used its platform, and also processed some data without any legal ground. According to a statement from ICO, they will carefully consider any representations from TikTok before making any decisions.
TikTok has faced some intense scrutiny in Europe over concerns that children’s data is not safe on TikTok. A separate probe in Ireland, the European base of TikTok, is also in its final stages.
John Edwards, chair of the information commission, said that they all want their children to be able to learn, and experience the digital world, but they want it with proper data privacy protections. TikTok does not respond immediately to a request for comments on the probe made by the privacy watchdog in the United Kingdom.
