TikTok Socked With $367 Million Fine Over Alleged Mishandling of Children’s Data
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok has been fined €345 million — about $367 million — by an Irish regulatory agency, which ruled the app violated the EU’s data-privacy laws with respect to processing information on children users.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), in addition to the fine, ordered TikTok “to bring its processing into compliance” with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) within three months.
During an investigation into TikTok practices spanning the second half of 2020, the DPC found that the app’s signup process for teenage users resulted in settings that made their accounts public by default, allowing anyone to view and comment on their videos.
In addition, the regulator said, TikTok’s “family pairing” feature, intended to let parents and guardians manage their kids’ accounts, failed to verify whether the user was actually the child user’s parent or guardian.
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