TikTok faced with £12,700,000 fine for misusing children’s data

"TikTok did not abide by the law"

TikTok has been slapped with a £12 million fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for misusing children’s data. The original fine was a whopping £27 million but the final amount has been reduced to £12.7 million. The ICO said more than one million children under the age of 13 were using TikTok in 2020, despite its terms of use not allowing that. The organisation also added that TikTok used the personal data belonging to those children without parental consent and that the company did not do enough to check who was using the social media app. They also didn't do enough to remove the underage users. Information Commissioner John Edwards 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." [caption id="attachment_426346" align="alignnone" width="1254"] John Edwards added: "That means that their data may have been used to track them and profile them.[/caption]

"Potentially delivering harmful, inappropriate content at their very next scroll.

"TikTok should have known better. TikTok should have done better.

"Our £12.7 million fine reflects the serious impact their failures may have had."

A spokesperson for TikTok said they disagree with the ruling but are thankful the fine was reduced from the initial 27 million pounds. They said: "We invest heavily to help keep under 13s off the platform and our 40,000 strong safety team works around the clock to help keep the platform safe for our community.

"We will continue to review the decision and are considering next steps."

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