TikTok is fined $368 million by European authorities for violating their stringent data privacy laws.
TikTok is fined $368 million by European authorities for violating their stringent data privacy laws.
TikTok was fined $368 million by European authorities on Friday for failing to safeguard children’s privacy. This is the first time a popular short-video sharing app has been penalized for breaking Europe’s stringent data privacy laws.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said that it was fining TikTok 345 million euros and reprimanding the platform for the infractions dating to the second half of 2020. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is the primary privacy regulator for Big Tech corporations whose European offices are mostly in Dublin.
The inquiry discovered that teenage users’ accounts were set up with basic privacy settings that allowed anybody to see and leave comments on their recordings. Children under 13 who were able to use the site while being prohibited did so at their own risk due to those default settings. Additionally, a “family pairing” tool that was meant to let parents control settings wasn’t tight enough, enabling adults to switch on direct messaging for users who were 16 and 17 without their permission. Additionally, the watchdog said that it steered young users toward more “privacy intrusive” choices when they registered and posted videos.
In a statement, TikTok expressed its disapproval of the judgment, “particularly the level of the fine imposed.”
The corporation emphasized that the regulator’s objections were limited to three-year-old features and settings. In addition to making all accounts for users under the age of 16 private by default and blocking direct messaging for users between the ages of 13 and 15, TikTok claimed to have implemented these adjustments long before the inquiry started in September 2021.
Elaine Fox, TikTok’s director of privacy for Europe, noted in a blog post that “most of the decision’s criticisms are no longer relevant as a result of measures we introduced at the start of 2021 — several months before the investigation began.”
Since EU privacy legislation went into force in 2018, the Irish regulator has come under fire for not acting quickly enough in its investigations of Big Tech firms.
German and Italian authorities’ disagreements with a draft ruling given a year ago caused it to be further delayed for TikTok.
The 27-nation bloc’s Brussels headquarters has been tasked with implementing new rules to promote digital competition and clean up social media material in order to prevent new bottlenecks and maintain its position as a worldwide leader in IT regulation.
The Irish watchdog looked at TikTok’s efforts to make sure users are at least 13 but didn’t find any violations.
In order to determine whether TikTok complies with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation when it moved users’ personal information to China, where its owner, ByteDance, is headquartered, the regulator is currently conducting a second examination.
TikTok has been accused of posing a security risk since users are concerned that their private information can wind up in China.
In order to allay such worries, it has started a project to localize user data for users in Europe. This month, it will establish the first of three data centers on the continent in Dublin.
The Irish regulator has levied significant penalties on several digital firms over the last year, including Instagram, WhatsApp, and their owner Meta.
