EU fines TikTok 345 million euros over child data

EU fines TikTok 345 million euros over child data

Published September 15,2023


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A European Union regulator fined Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok 345 million euros over youngster knowledge breaches on Friday.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission stated in an announcement that it has handed down the “administrative fine”, which is equal to $369 million, over the breaches it uncovered in a two-year inquiry.

The watchdog gave TikTok three months “to bring its processing into compliance” with its guidelines.

EU member Ireland’s DPC performs a key function in policing the bloc’s strict General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

The watchdog in September 2021 started analyzing TikTok’s compliance with GDPR in relation to platform settings and private knowledge processing for customers aged beneath 18.

It additionally checked out TikTok’s age verification measures for individuals beneath 13 and located no infringement, however discovered the platform didn’t correctly assess the dangers to youthful folks registering on the service.

The DPC highlighted Friday in its ruling how youngsters signing up had TikTok accounts set to public by default, which means anybody may view or touch upon their content material.

It additionally criticised TikTok’s “family pairing” mode, which is designed to hyperlink dad and mom’ accounts to these of their teenage offspring, however the DPC discovered the corporate didn’t confirm dad or mum or guardian standing.

Ireland is on the centre of the GDPR regime as a result of Dublin hosts the European headquarters of TikTok and the likes of Google, Meta and X, previously Twitter.

TikTok, a division of Chinese tech big ByteDance, is extraordinarily fashionable amongst younger folks with 150 million customers within the United States and 134 million within the European Union.

In response to Friday’s high quality, TikTok stated it “respectfully disagrees” with the decision and was “evaluating” tips on how to proceed.

“The DPC’s criticisms are focused on features and settings that were in place three years ago, and that we made changes to well before the investigation even began, such as setting all under 16 accounts to private by default,” a TikTok spokesperson advised AFP.

Source: www.anews.com.tr