TikTok fined £12.7m for misusing children's data

(image credit: Shiona McCallum, Tom Gerken & Zoe Kleinman)

TikTok has been fined £12.7m by the UK's data watchdog for failing to protect the privacy of children.

An investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has found that TikTok allowed up to 1.4 million UK children aged under 13 to use the platform in 2020, without obtaining parental consent. Despite TikTok setting 13 as the minimum age to create an account, the ICO discovered that many under-13s were still able to access the site. The watchdog said that children's data may have been used to track and profile them, potentially exposing them to harmful or inappropriate content. The ICO has fined TikTok £12.7m for breaching data protection laws, one of the largest fines issued by the regulator.

Information Commissioner John Edwards criticised TikTok for not doing more to obtain parental consent. He noted that users could be targeted for advertising, profiled, and have their data used to feed content algorithms, which could expose them to increasingly harmful or inappropriate content. TikTok may appeal against the fine, which could be reduced if the appeal is successful. However, there may be further concerns for the platform as the UK Online Safety Bill requires strict age verification processes by social networks, and firms may be fined for breaches.

Trouble for TikTok:

The ICO's findings come as TikTok faces increasing global scrutiny over security concerns, with many Western countries taking measures against the platform over fears that user data will be shared with the Chinese government. The platform has already been banned on government devices in several countries and by the European Commission. TikTok parent company, ByteDance, reportedly made $80bn (£64bn) in revenue in 2022, making the £12.7m fine a relatively small amount. The platform said it disagreed with the ICO's decision but would continue to review the verdict and consider its next steps.

Prof Sonia Livingstone, a researcher of children's digital rights and experiences, praised the ICO's actions but feared that the fine amount could be viewed as the cost of doing business. She urged TikTok to review its practices to respect children's privacy and safety proactively in the future. The BBC has also advised staff to delete TikTok from work phones.