Chinese social network TikTok has been fined £12.7m (14.54m euros) in the UK. “not doing enough” to prevent underage children access the platform.

The Information Commissioner’s Office claimed that even TikTok allowed it. 1.4 million children under 13 used their platform in 2020 after not being sure that they had parent or guardian permission to access the app, which violated their terms of service.

Also, TikTok did not verify the identities of the minors. kick them out despite the warnings issued by the company employees themselves.

“We have laws in place to protect the safety of our children in the digital world as well as the physical world. TikTok did not comply with these laws.”, the information commissioner justified John Edwards. “They haven’t done enough to make sure who is using their platform,” he decided.

However, the regulator imposed a fine below that specified. 27 million pounds (30.91 million euros) It was originally alleged because it decided not to continue the investigation into the alleged illegal use of “special category data”. Such data includes information about race, political, religious, sexual orientation or biometric data, among others.

TikTok, on the other hand, rejected the decision and said it was. “Weighing the next steps to take”. However, he was “gratified” when he saw that the sentence was halved.

government veto

This fine follows the ban imposed by the British Government a few weeks ago, which vetoed China’s enforcement of government mobile phones due to cybersecurity concerns, as announced by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the House of Commons. Oliver Dowden.

The restrictions to be applied will affect the business mobile devices of civil servants and ministers, but not their personal mobile phones. The veto came after the British National Cyber ​​Security Center experts’ opinion on data protection. “This is the right decision based on specific risks for government phones,” Dowden said in Parliament.

Thus, the Rishi Sunak Manager made a 180-degree turn from the position expressed only a few weeks ago by Michelle Donelan, Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, who said that the UK would not participate in the ‘Politico’ medium. The ban, decided by the European Commission, forcing its employees to remove TikTok before March 15. The head of science added that owning the app is a “personal choice” of users.