TikTok has been fined €345m (£296m) for breaching privacy laws over the processing of children’s personal data, an EU regulator has said.

The investigation by Ireland‘s data protection commission found the Chinese-owned video app‘s default settings made teenagers’ accounts publicly viewable by default.

It also ruled it was too easy for children under 13 to sign up to the platform, even though they’re meant to be barred.

And the app’s “family pairing” feature, which allows adults to manage the settings of their child’s account, weren’t stringent enough and too easily ignored.

TikTok has hit back against the commission’s findings, which are similar to those made by the UK data watchdog earlier this year that led to a £12.7m fine.

TikTok argued it had already made relevant changes by the time the Irish investigation began in September 2021, including making all accounts owned by under-16s private by default.

The platform updated its family pairing tool earlier this summer, adding the ability for parents to filter out videos they don’t want their children to see.

TikTok vaping adverts that flouted platform’s own rules banned by UK regulator

TikTok’s first European data centre goes live in bid to combat privacy concerns

TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari and her mother jailed for life for double murder after sex tape threat

Elaine Fox, TikTok’s head of privacy for Europe, said most of the regulator’s criticisms “are no longer relevant”.

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

Regulator’s record of big tech fines

The data protection commission has effectively become the EU’s privacy watchdog as many global tech giants, including Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, run their European operations from Ireland.

It has been criticised in the past for moving too slowly with its investigations and subsequent fines.

Earlier this year, the Irish commission issued a record €1.2bn (£1bn) penalty to American-owned Meta for transferring European user data to the US for processing.

Before that, it had fined the company €390m (£343m) for forcing users to agree to personalised adverts.

It has also fined WhatsApp, another Meta firm, €225m (£193m) for breaking other data-sharing regulations.

Read more:
Why TikTok’s data lust is far from unique
TikTok influencer and mother jailed for double murder

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

TikTok’s bid to combat privacy concerns

Friday’s fine against TikTok comes as it seeks to combat privacy concerns among European politicians, chiefly by launching its first local data centre in Dublin.

TikTok executive Theo Bertram, the firm’s vice president of public policy in Europe, said it would create a “specially reinforced protective environment around our European user data”.

Until now, all user data was kept on servers in the US and Singapore.

Ireland will also host a second such hub, which is under construction, and another is being built in Norway.

Those suspicious of TikTok have suggested user information could be shared with the Chinese government, however the company has said it would not do so and that Beijing’s laws do not extend to data held abroad.

Related posts:

Scientists accidentally find life beneath ice shelves in the Antarctic Uttarakhand dam disaster: What caused India’s deadly flood? Dating app Bumble closes for a week to let staff tackle ‘collective burnout’ Lethal chimpanzee attacks on gorillas observed for first time UAE tackles heat by ‘creating its own rain’ with drones Facial recognition used to take payments from school children Apple pushes return to office plans back to February ‘Game-changing’ antibiotic could save millions of lives from superbugs Criminals posting counterfeit Microsoft products to get access to victims’ computers Briton pleads guilty to hacking stars’ Twitter accounts to steal Bitcoin Apple unveils mixed-reality ‘ski goggles’ headset – but it will set you back £2,849 NASA reveals likely cause of new crater on the moon