TikTok fined over £12 million in UK after failing to prevent children under the age of 13 from accessing app  

Chinese social media company TikTok was fined in the UK for allowing access to over 1.4 million children under the age of 13 in 2020 

UK´s data watchdog has fined the Chinese social media network TikTok £12 (€14.54) million for “not doing enough” to prevent children under the age of 13 from accessing the platform. 

According to Reuters, TikTok has been fined for breaching data protection laws, including using the personal data of children under the age of 13, without consent from their parents.  

As per estimates by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), over 1.4 million children in the UK under the age of 13 were allowed to use the platform in 2020, even though the minimum age to create an account is 13.   

“The data breaches occurred between May 2018 and July 2020, with the Chinese-owned video app not having done enough to check who was using the platform and remove the underage children who were”, said the ICO statement.  

John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner said that “There are laws in place to make sure our children are as safe in the digital world as they are in the physical world. TikTok did not abide by those laws”. 

He further added, “Children’s data may have been used to track and profile them, potentially presenting them with harmful or inappropriate content”:  

Meanwhile, TikTok has released a statement and stated that the company “disagreed with the ICO’s decision”, while adding that it was “pleased” as the fine has been almost halved since last year.  

“We invest heavily to help keep under 13s off the platform and our 40,000 strong safety team works around the clock to help keep the platform safe for our community,” the spokesperson said. 

“We will continue to review the decision and are considering next steps”, the spokesperson added.

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