The UK"s communications regulator, Ofcom, has fined TikTok £1.875 million for taking seven months after the deadline to provide information it asked for. TikTok submitted the information Ofcom wanted in September 2023 but in December, TikTok self-reported that the information was wrong, then finally gave partial data relevant to the request at the end of March.
For those scrolling to the comments section to say the fine isn"t big enough, Ofcom noted that this is the first time TikTok had breached its rules. Ofcom said it also reduced the fine from £2.5 million by 25% because the company self-reported the error, accepted Ofcom"s findings, and settled the case.
Providing comment for Ofcom, Suzanne Cater, Ofcom"s Enforcement Director, said:
"Ofcom’s job is to scrutinise platforms’ safety features, and gathering information is a critical part of holding tech firms to account. When we demand data, it must be accurate and submitted on time. We won’t hesitate to take enforcement action if any company fails to do this."
The information which Ofcom wanted from TikTok pertained to the take-up of its parental controls feature "Family Pairing". Ofcom needed this to decide if the tool was effective at protecting teenagers and it wanted to include the data in a report being written to help empower parents.
TikTok handed over data at the start of September then months later in December told the regulator that the data it provided was not accurate and that an internal investigation was being done to understand where the inaccuracies had come from.
Ofcom launched its own investigation in mid-December after TikTok said the data was incorrect. Ofcom"s investigation uncovered a number of failings in TikTok"s data governance processes. TikTok didn"t have proper checks in place regarding the data it sent to Ofcom and it was also slow to bring the error to the attention of the regulator.
As a result of the incorrect data, Ofcom needed to remove details of the effectiveness of TikTok"s parental controls from the report, which disrupted its work to promote transparency.
On 28 March 2024, TikTok did submit accurate information about the Family Pairing feature but Ofcom says that the information was only partial.
Ofcom says that the fine of £1.875 million which is going to be paid by TikTok will be passed on to HM Treasury. While TikTok has the capability of paying much higher fines, the infraction was quite minor, was a first occurrence and the issue was self-reported.