TikTok, the video hosting service owned by Chinese company ByteDance, seems to have landed in trouble for allegedly failing to protect children’s privacy provisions spelt-out under UK data protection law.
The Information Commissioner"s Office, an independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest in the UK, suggests that the company might have knowingly or unknowingly breached UK data protection law.
The watchdog has already issued TikTok Inc and TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited with a “notice of intent” – a legal document that precedes a potential fine.
Findings by the agency suggest the company may have processed the data of children aged under 13 without appropriate parental consent and failed to provide proper information to its users in a transparent and easy-to-understand way. If found to be true, TikTok could face £27 million. The amount is equivalent to $29m.
The independent body also cleared that its findings were provisional i.e., arranged or existing for the present, possibly to be changed later. As such, no conclusion about the breach of data protection law should be drawn hastily.
TikTok has not issued any statement yet. Meanwhile, the watchdog also added that it would consider any representations from the company before reaching a conclusion.
Source: The Independent