UK Warns TikTok Could Face £27 Million Fine for Failing to Protect Children’s Privacy

The TikTok log at the the company's UK office in London, England, on Feb. 9, 2022. Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese-owned social media site TikTok could face a £27 million ($29 million) fine after British authorities found that it may have breached UK data protection law by failing to protect children’s privacy.

On Monday, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said in a statement that the video-sharing platform may have processed the data of under-13s without appropriate parental consent.

The ICO investigation also found that TikTok may have failed to provide proper information to its users “in a concise, transparent and easily understood way,” and “processed special category data, without legal grounds to do so.”

Authorities issued the company with a “notice of intent,” a legal document that precedes a potential fine. Its provisional view is that TikTok breached UK data protection law between May 2018 and July 2020.

The ICO added that “no conclusion should be drawn at this stage that there has, in fact, been any breach of data protection law or that a financial penalty will ultimately be imposed.”

“We will carefully consider any representations from TikTok before taking a final decision,” the ICO said.

“We all want children to be able to learn and experience the digital world, but with proper data privacy protections. Companies providing digital services have a legal duty to put those protections in place, but our provisional view is that TikTok fell short of meeting that requirement,” said Information Commissioner John Edwards.

“I’ve been clear that our work to better protect children online involves working with organisations but will also involve enforcement action where necessary,” he added.

“In addition to this, we are currently looking into how over 50 different online services are conforming with the Children’s code and have six ongoing investigations looking into companies providing digital services who haven’t, in our initial view, taken their responsibilities around child safety seriously enough,” said Edwards.

Chinese Communist Party

TikTok is a hugely popular short-format video app that allows users to create and share videos. It started in China as “Douyin” in September 2016, but was relaunched as TikTok internationally in September 2017.

In July, the UK’s communications regulator Ofcom found that teenagers in the country are turning away from traditional news channels and are instead looking to Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

In February, Casey Fleming, a cyber security expert and CEO of strategic advisory firm BlackOps Partners, warned on EpochTV’s “Wide Angle” program that if people use TikTok, they may be feeding information to Chinese Communist Party intelligence services.

All the private information that the app is collecting may be fed directly to the Chinese regime, he warned, citing a range of Chinese laws that compel companies to cooperate with regime authorities when asked.

“All of your data on that phone,” Fleming said, “everything you do, and everything that you have stored on your phone is being sent out of the country, possibly to be used against you,” he said.

“The Communist Party of China is collecting vast amounts of data. It may not be used against you today. But this information might be used against you, your company, or your country in the future,” he added.

The Epoch Times contacted TikTok for comment.