Mega Fine Strikes TikTok, Leaving Everyone in Shock

A Fine of £345M Levied Against TikTok for GDPR Violations Involving Children's Data

The Republic of Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has imposed an administrative fine totaling €345 million on TikTok for failing to comply with GDPR regulations regarding the handling of children's information.

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Following an investigation that began in 2021, the DPC found that TikTok had violated multiple privacy laws between July and December 2020, failing to adequately safeguard the data of child users.

The DPC highlighted several breaches, including default settings that made children's accounts publicly accessible, thereby exposing their content to users and non-users of the platform.

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Other infringements included a family pairing feature that could connect children's accounts with unverified adults and flaws in the age verification system.

Furthermore, a Supervisory Authority in Berlin raised concerns about "dark patterns" on the platform, which encouraged users to choose more privacy-intrusive options during sign-up and video posting, in violation of GDPR fairness principles.

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TikTok has been given three months to bring its data processing practices into compliance.

In response, TikTok stated that many of the criticisms in the decision are no longer valid, as they had implemented measures in early 2021, several months prior to the start of the investigation.

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"We respectfully disagree with certain aspects of the decision, particularly the magnitude of the fine, and we aim to provide important context as we evaluate our next steps," TikTok commented.