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Why TikTok might be fined for failing to protect children
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TikTok might be fined more than £27 million for failing to protect children's privacy when they use the platform.
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which is in charge of supervising data privacy in the UK, said the social media platform might have broken the law by processing children under the age of 13's data, without getting appropriate consent from their parents or being legally allowed to do so.
The ICO added that this happened for more than two years between May 2018 until July 2020, but it has not yet drawn its final conclusions.
TikTok disagrees with what the ICO has found, and says the findings are only temporary.
What has the ICO found out?
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The ICO carried out an investigation and found that TikTok might have:
- Processed data belonging to children under the age of 13 without getting appropriate parental consent.
- Failed to provide proper information to its users in a clear, concise and easy to understand way.
- Processed special category data - which is personal data that needs more protection because it is sensitive - without being legally allowed to do so.
The ICO has given TikTok a "notice of intent" - this a legal document which is given before a possible fine.
The Information Commissioner John Edwards said: "We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with proper data privacy protections.
"Companies providing digital services have a legal duty to put those protections in place, but our view at the moment is that TikTok did not fully meet this requirement."
The ICO said its findings in the notice were only temporary and are likely to change. It says no final decision has been made at this stage.
The Information Commissioner also said that they have six investigations at the moment looking into companies providing digital services who have not, in their initial view, taken their responsibilities around child safety seriously enough.
What has TikTok said?
Image source, Reuters
A TikTok spokesperson said: "This notice of intent, covering the period May 2018-July 2020, is only temporarily and as the ICO itself has stated, no final decisions can be drawn at this time.
"While we respect the ICO's role in protecting privacy in the UK, we disagree with the initial views and we intend to formally respond to the ICO soon."
TikTok has also introduced a number of features to strengthen the privacy and safety on the platform, including allowing parents to link their accounts to their children's, and disabling direct messaging for under-16s.
How protected are children online?
In September last year, a new set of rules called The Children's Code was set up to help big tech companies and social media sites like TikTok, protect children more online.
There are 15 standards online services must follow - these services include apps, games, social media sites and streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime TV.