Among the offenses noted between July and December 2020, the registration of children on the platform, which was done in such a way that their accounts were defined as public by default.
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A heavy fine for TikTok. On Friday, September 15, the European Union imposed a fine of 345 million euros on the social network for violating its data protection rules in the processing of information concerning minors. TikTok Technology Limited will also have to bring its operations into compliance within three months, announced the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which acts on behalf of the European Union.
The DPC opened an investigation in September 2021 into this subsidiary of the Chinese giant ByteDance, very popular among young people, which today has 150 million users in the United States and 134 million in the European Union. The offenses concerned related to the period between July 31 and December 31, 2020. The Irish authority notes in particular in its decision that the registration of children on the platform was done in such a way that their accounts were defined as public by default. .
TikTok says it “disagrees with the decision”
Other problems related to the “family connection” mode, which allows you to link a parent’s TikTok account to that of their teenager. According to the decision, the company notably did not verify whether the associated user was actually the parent or guardian. In addition, if the platform is in theory reserved for users aged at least 13, the DPC considers that TikTok did not properly take into account the risks posed to younger people who still managed to create an account.
TikTok is “respectfully disagree with the decision, in particular the level of the fine imposed”reacted a spokesperson to AFP, specifying that the company “assess next steps”, without commenting on the possibility of appealing. “Criticism of the DPC focuses on features and settings that were in place three years ago, and which we have changed” shortly after, the company argued, noting for example that all accounts of people under 16 are now private by default.