TikTok Fined 20 Billion KRW for Violating Child Privacy Protection in the UK

ICO "Allowing Platform Use by Children Under 13 Prohibited"
"Risk of Child Personal Data Misuse and Harmful Content Provision"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok has been fined ?12.7 million (approximately 20.9 billion KRW) in the UK for violating children's privacy protection laws.

According to a BBC report on the 4th (local time), the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) announced that TikTok violated data protection laws between May 2018 and July 2020.

The ICO found that despite TikTok's own rules prohibiting users under the age of 13 from creating accounts, TikTok allowed up to 1.4 million children in that age group to create and use accounts in 2020.

Under UK data protection law, parental consent is required when using personal information of children under 13.

The ICO judged that TikTok did not make sufficient efforts to identify and protect child users. John Edwards, Chair of the ICO, pointed out, "We have laws in place to ensure children are safe in the digital world just as they are in the real world, but TikTok did not comply with these."

He explained, "Children's personal information may have been misused to track and profile them, and potentially harmful or inappropriate content may have been provided," evaluating that TikTok did not take appropriate measures to delete children's personal data.

Prior to imposing the fine, the ICO had issued a preliminary notice to TikTok. Regarding this decision, TikTok stated that while it does not agree with the ICO's judgment, it views the significant reduction of the fine from ?27 million proposed last year as a positive development.

A TikTok spokesperson claimed, "We are actively investing to prevent children under 13 from using the platform," adding, "Our safety team of 40,000 people works around the clock to keep the platform safe." They also said, "We will review this decision and consider the next steps."