TikTok has been fined £12.7m by the UK’s data watchdog for failing to protect the privacy of children.
It estimated TikTok allowed up to 1.4 million UK children aged under 13 to use the platform in 2020.
The video-sharing site used the data of children of this age without parental consent, according to an investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
TikTok said it had “invested heavily” to stop under-13s accessing the site.
The ICO said many were able to access the site despite TikTok setting 13 as the minimum age to create an account.
It said that children’s data may have been used to track and profile them, and potentially present them with harmful or inappropriate content.
Information commissioner John Edwards said: “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.
“As a consequence, an estimated one million under-13s were inappropriately granted access to the platform, with TikTok collecting and using their personal data.
“TikTok should have known better. TikTok should have done better. Our £12.7m fine reflects the serious impact their failures may have had.”
Later, he told BBC News TikTok had “taken no steps” to obtain parental consent.
“When you sign up you can be targeted for advertising, you can be profiled, your data contributes to an algorithm which feeds content,” he said.
“If you’ve been looking at content which is not appropriate for your age, that can get more and more extreme.
“It can be quite harmful for people who are not old enough to fully appreciate the implications and to make appropriate choices.” (BBC)
