TikTok Fined Nearly £13 Million By UK Over Misuse of Children’s Data.

Britain’s privacy watchdog has hit TikTok with a £12.7 million fine for misusing children’s personal data as well as other data protection violations.

TikTok Fined £12.7 Million

The Information Commissioner’s Office has today revealed it has issued a fine of £12.7 million pounds to TikTok regarding concerns over children’s personal data. The investigation into data breaches between May 2018 and July 2020 found that TikTok had allowed as many as 1.4 Million children in the UK under the age of 13 to access the app despite the rules that prohibit children under the age of 13. Data protection laws in the UK require parental consent for children under 13 to process their data which TikTok had not gained.

In a statement acquired by PBS.org TikTok claimed that they “invest heavily to help keep under 13s off the platform” and they disagree with the watchdog’s decision but have since improved its sign-up system to prevent under 13s from accessing the platform.

This issue has not only concerned children’s privacy as the UK watchdog has also claimed that TikTok failed to ensure the personal data of British users was processed lawfully, fairly and transparently.

Banned on Government Devices

Tiktok has been in a difficult position lately regarding its data security with many governments around the world including USA, Australia and France who have banned the app from phones in government buildings due to security concerns.

I personally dislike TikTok, not for its privacy concerns because let’s be honest, Facebook and Instagram are just as bad. I dislike it as with its short-form content it is ridiculously addicting and I personally feel as though it’s just ruining people’s attention span with short-form content on top of all of the other issues that surround social media as a whole.

What do you think of this fine? Let us know in the comments.