Britain may fine TikTok 27 million pounds ($28.91 million) after an investigation found the short-form video app breached UK data protection law by failing to protect the privacy of children using the platform. can be violated.
The investigation found that TikTok could process the data of children under the age of 13 without proper parental consent and failed to transparently provide adequate information to its users.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued TikTok and TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited with a “notice of intent,” the regulator said in a statement.
“Digital services companies have a legal duty to implement these protections, but our provisional view is that TikTok failed to meet this requirement,” Information Commissioner John Edwards said.
“While we respect the ICO’s role in protecting privacy in the UK, we disagree with the initial views expressed and intend to respond formally to the ICO in due course,” a TikTok spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The ICO’s provisional view suggests that TikTok breached UK data protection law between May 2018 and July 2020.
In July, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee voted to approve a measure that would have raised the age of consent to 16 and allowed companies like TikTok and Snapchat ( SNAP.N ) to use children without consent. Targeted ads will be banned.
