European Union regulator has fined a Chinese-owned social media platform, TikTok 345 million euros for violenting children’s privacy.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said in a statement on Friday that it has handed down the “administrative fine”, which is equivalent to $369 million, over the breaches it uncovered in a two-year inquiry.
The Data Protection Commission (DPC) said TikTok failed to protect children’s personal information by making their accounts publicly accessible by default and insufficiently tackled risks that under-13 users could access its platform.
Helen Dixon, the Irish data protection commissioner, said, “Alone the fine of [€345 million] is a headline sanction to impose but reflects the extent to which the DPC identified child users were exposed to risk in particular arising from TikTok’s decision at the time to default child user accounts to public settings on registration.”
The watchdog, which plays a central role in enforcing EU data rules, gave TikTok three months to make the appropriate changes.
However, in response to the fine, TikTok spokesperson told AFP that it “respectfully disagrees” with the verdict and was “evaluating” how to proceed.
