Chinese platform TikTok is facing a possible fine of around 30m euros (£27m) in the UK. if it is confirmed that it violates UK data protection law by collecting information about its underage usersThis Monday, the industry’s British regulator reported.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced in a statement that it has written a letter to Tiktok Inc and Tiktok Information Technologies Limited expressing its suspicions and will wait for a response before drawing any firm conclusions.
TikTok according to their initial research May have violated UK data protection law between May 2018 and July 2020.
This will be for the processing of data of children under the age of 13 without appropriate parental consent; not to provide users with sufficient, concise, transparent and easy-to-understand information and to process “special category data” (such as ethnicity, political opinion, religious belief…) without legal basis.
“Companies providing digital services has a legal duty to enforce such protectionshowever, our tentative view is that TikTok does not meet this requirement.”
Reporting to the Department of Culture, Edwards adds that the Bureau is currently investigating six other providers it suspects are failing to meet their responsibilities to ensure children’s safety “seriously enough”.
Under UK law, companies that violate UK data protection laws Can be fined up to £17.5m (about 20 million euros at today’s exchange rate) or 4% of global annual turnover, whichever is higher.
Source: Informacion
Brandon Hall is an author at “Social Bites”. He is a cultural aficionado who writes about the latest news and developments in the world of art, literature, music, and more. With a passion for the arts and a deep understanding of cultural trends, Brandon provides engaging and thought-provoking articles that keep his readers informed and up-to-date on the latest happenings in the cultural world.