TikTok may be fined £27m for failing to protect children

TikTok could face a £27m fine for failing to protect children’s privacy when they’re using the platform.

The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found the video-sharing platform may have processed the data of under-13s without appropriate consent.

The watchdog said the breach happened over more than two years – until July 2020 – but that it had not yet drawn final conclusions.

TikTok says it disputes the findings, noting that they are “provisional”.

The ICO has issued TikTok Inc and TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited with a “notice of intent” – a legal document which precedes a potential fine.

The notice sets out the ICO’s provisional view that TikTok breached UK data protection law between May 2018 and July 2020.

The ICO investigation found the social platform may have:

• processed the data of children under the age of 13 without appropriate parental consent
• failed to provide proper information to its users in a concise, transparent and easily understood way
• processed special category data, without legal grounds to do so

According to Ofcom, 44% of eight to 12-year-olds in the UK use TikTok, despite its policies forbidding under-13s on the platform.

Information Commissioner John Edwards said: “We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with proper data privacy protections.

“Companies providing digital services have a legal duty to put those protections in place, but our provisional view is that TikTok fell short of meeting that requirement.”

TikTok has rolled out a number of features to strengthen the privacy and safety on the site – including allowing parents to link their accounts to their children’s, and disabling direct messaging for under-16s.

But Mr Edwards continued: “I’ve been clear that our work to better protect children online involves working with organisations, but will also involve enforcement action where necessary.

“In addition to this, we are currently looking into how over 50 different online services are conforming with the Children’s Code, and have six ongoing investigations looking into companies providing digital services who haven’t, in our initial view, taken their responsibilities around child safety seriously enough.”