The UK’s privacy watchdog has filed an application tick tock million dollar fines for a series data protection breachincluding misuse of the data of minors.
Information Communications Office imposed a fine of $15.9 million to a short video publishing platform which is very popular among young people.
This is the latest example of the intense scrutiny that TikTok and its parent company, Chinese tech company Byte Dance, face in the West, where The government is concerned about the risks posed by implementing data protection and cyber security.
The UK agency says TikTok will allow up to 1.4 million children in the UK under the age of 13 to use the app in 2020, despite the fact that its own rules forbid very young children from creating accounts.
tick tock does not properly identify or remove minors under the age of 13 from the platformthe agency said. And despite knowing that the minor was using the platform, TikTok did not obtain their parents’ consent to process their data, as required by UK law, he added.
“TikTok should know. TikTok should act,” Information Commissioner John Edwards said in a press release. The fine “reflects the serious impact of the failure. They are not taking adequate steps to verify who is using their platform or removing minors from using their platform.”
The company said it did not agree with the agency’s decision.
“We invest heavily in keeping children under the age of 13 away from the platform and our security team of 40,000 employees work around the clock to ensure the security of the platform for our communityTikTok said in a statement. “We are continuously reviewing the decision and studying the next steps.”
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