The European Union on Friday fined social network TikTok €345 million for violating its data protection rules (GDPR) in the processing of information about minors. TikTok Technology Limited will have to pay "administrative fines totalling €345 million" and bring its operations into compliance within three months, the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), acting on behalf of the EU, said in a statement.
The DPC had opened in September 2021 an investigation into this subsidiary of the Chinese giant ByteDance, very popular among young people, which now has 150 million users in the United States and 134 million in the European Union. The infringements concerned related to the period from 31 July to 31 December 2020.
TikTok 'respectfully disagrees'
The Irish authority notes in particular in its decision that the registration of children on the platform was done in such a way that their accounts were defined as public by default. Other problems were the "family login" mode, which allows a parent's TikTok account to be linked to their teen's. According to the decision, the company did not verify whether the associated user was really the parent or guardian.
In addition, while the platform is theoretically reserved for users at least 13 years old, the DPC believes that TikTok did not properly take into account the risks posed to younger people who still managed to create an account. TikTok "respectfully disagrees with the decision, in particular the level of the fine imposed," a spokesperson said in a statement sent to AFP, adding that the company is "evaluating the next steps", without commenting on the possibility of appealing.
- Tech
- By the Web
- TikTok
- GDPR
- Fine
- Child