TikTok, a video-sharing platform owned by China, has been fined nearly 16 million USD by a regulator in the United Kingdom for violating a number of “data protection law” provisions, including the misuse of personal data pertaining to children.
TikTok was fined USD 15.9 million by the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK, who estimated that the video-sharing platform allowed over 1 million children under the age of 13 to use it in violation of its own rules in 2020.
The video-sharing platform had not done enough to find out who and at what age their audience was accessing their platform, according to a statement made on Tuesday by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Additionally, TikTok had provided users with incorrect information regarding the collection and use of their data and had failed to act to remove children who were under the age of 18. Rule violations occurring between May 2018 and July 2020 are subject to the fine.
There are regulations in place to ensure that your children are as secure online as they are offline. According to John Edwards, the UK Information Commissioner, TikTok broke those laws. He went on to say that TikTok ought to have known better. TikTok ought to have performed better.
A representative for TikTok let CNN know that the organization contributes vigorously to assist with holding under 13s off the stage and that it contradicted the ICO’s choice. The fine comes as a line of Western nations walks out on the Chinese-claimed video web-based stage.
