UK fines TikTok £12.7m for data breaches of underage users

Today the British Office for the Protection of User Data and Information (ICO) announced to impose a £12.7 million ($16 million) fine on the video service TikTok for a number of violations of local laws on the storage and processing of user data (including minor users).

The ICO notes that over 1 million children (users under the age of 13) in Britain use TikTok, which has stored and processed their data without due notice and without obtaining the consent of parents or other responsible adults – as required by law and the rules of TikTok itself. After examining the operation of the video service, the ICO concluded that TikTok also did not adequately inform users about how their data is stored and processed.

Initially, the ICO planned to impose much more a fine of £27 million. However, after examining the documents provided by TikTok, the regulator concluded that the data of underage users were not used by the service for illegal purposes, and therefore reduced the amount of the fine.

Evgeniy Khvostik