TikTok slapped with US$15.9 million fine for kids' data breaches

As you may know, TikTok has blown up among teenagers, but there's serious trouble behind the scenes.

TikTok slapped with US$15.9 million fine for kids' data breaches
Children playground miniatures are seen in front of displayed TikTok logo in this illustration taken April 4, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The backstory: As you may know, TikTok has blown up among teenagers, but there's serious trouble behind the scenes. See, TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a big internet player based in Beijing. And that's got some people in the West worried about security and Chinese influence via the app.

More recently: Last September, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) came down on TikTok, proposing a massive fine of £27 million (US$29 million) for not properly handling kids' data. And just last month, the UK government banned TikTok from its phones due to security concerns, sparking a heated debate about big tech and China's role in the UK. The US, Canada and Australia have also banned the app from official devices, and the US is even considering a nationwide ban.

The development: On Tuesday, TikTok was handed a reduced, but still hefty, fine of £12.7 million (US$15.9 million) by the ICO following its investigation. According to the ICO, around 1.4 million kids under 13 years old were using TikTok in the UK in 2020, even though the app's minimum age requirement is 13. These data breaches happened between May 2018 and July 2020, and the ICO found that TikTok didn't do enough to verify users' ages or remove underage users. The ICO's investigation also found that kids' data might have been used to track and profile them, exposing them to potentially harmful or inappropriate content.  

Key comments:

"There are laws in place to make sure our children are as safe in the digital world as they are in the physical world. TikTok did not abide by those laws," said UK Information Commissioner John Edwards.

"TikTok is a platform for users aged 13 and over," said a TikTok spokesperson to CNBC. "We invest heavily to help keep under 13s off the platform and our 40,000 strong safety team works around the clock to help keep the platform safe for our community."

"TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever made," said Chew Shou Xi, TikTok CEO, in written testimony to the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.