The European Union’s lead regulator has imposed a fine of €345 million ($368 million) on TikTok for violating laws on the processing of children’s personal data. This is the first time that TikTok, the popular short video-sharing app, has been penalized for breaching Europe’s strict data privacy rules.
The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) in Ireland, where TikTok’s European headquarters are located, found that TikTok breached several EU privacy laws between July 31, 2020, and December 31, 2020. The investigation revealed that the sign-up process for teenage users resulted in settings that made their accounts public by default, posing risks to children under 13 who gained unauthorized access to the platform. Additionally, a “family pairing” feature designed for parents to manage settings was not strict enough, allowing adults to enable direct messaging for users aged 16 and 17 without their consent.
TikTok responded by disagreeing with the decision, particularly the size of the fine, and stated that most of the criticisms were no longer relevant due to measures introduced before the DPC’s probe began in September 2021. TikTok had already added tougher parental controls and changed default settings for younger users to “private.”
The DPC has given TikTok three months to bring its processing practices into compliance where infringements were found. Additionally, the regulator is conducting a second investigation into whether TikTok complied with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation when transferring users’ personal information to China, where its owner, ByteDance, is based.
TikTok has faced concerns regarding data security and user information potentially ending up in China. To address these concerns, the company has initiated a project to localize European user data by opening a data center in Dublin, the first of three planned in the continent.
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