TikTok was just fined EUR 345 million (around PHP 20.8 billion) by the European Union (EU) for breaching its rules on the personal data of children and teenage users.
TikTok EU Fine
The Ireland Data Protection Commission (DPC), the regulator for tech companies in Dublin, announced that the fine was after an investigation that started in September 2021.
The commission found that TikTok infringed the EU data protection regulations by having the accounts of children aged 13-17 default to public, meaning anyone could view their content and contact them.
The family pairing feature which should allow parents to manage their children’s settings was deemed ‘not strict enough’. Among the reasons include adults being able to turn on direct messaging for users over 16 years old.
The social media platform responded, “We respectfully disagree with the decision, particularly the level of the fine imposed.”
“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,” Elaine Fox, TikTok Head of Privacy for Europe
Fox further stated that the platform will “continue to strengthen protections for teenagers”.
TikTok has three months to comply with the ruling by the EU.
Meanwhile, the DPC is carrying out a second investigation into the company. This is to see if it complied with the EU General Data Protection Regulation when the personal information of its users was transferred to ByteDance’s home base in China. The DPC is expected to share its findings by the end of this year.
Source: Gadget Pilipinas
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