TikTok may have misused children’s data, and was fined several billion forints

TikTok has been fined nearly 5.5 billion HUF (£12.7 million) by the UK’s Data Protection Authority (ICO) for using the data of more than 1 million children under the age of 13 without parental consent. This is one of the largest fines ever imposed by an ICO, reports A BBC.

According to the organization, from May 2018 to July 2020, several people were able to access the site despite the fact that the company set an age limit of 13 to create an account. John Edwards According to the Information Commissioner, TikTok has not taken any steps to obtain parental consent.

The authority also stated that children’s data can also be used to track and characterize them, and even show harmful and inappropriate content to them.

Because of this, a fine of £27m was originally discussed, but the amount included in the letter of intent was later reduced. In TikTok’s response, it stated that its 40,000-person security team had taken serious steps in recent years to ensure that children under the age of 13 could not access the site.

Social media company ByteDance can appeal the fine and has 28 days to file an appeal. If successful, the ICO may reduce the total amount. There may also be serious concern that the UK’s online safety bill, which will be adopted in the coming months, will require strict age verification measures for social media sites.