TikTok Pays £12.7 million Fine Over Under-13 Data Practices

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a £12.7 million penalty after concluding that TikTok failed to enforce its minimum-age rule of 13, allowing up to 1.75 million British children under that age to use the service in 2020. The regulator said the platform did “very little, if anything” to identify, remove or obtain parental consent for under-13 users and did not provide clear information on data collection. The fine relates to activity between May 2018 and July 2020. The ICO also withdrew an earlier information-notice appeal, enabling it to resume a separate probe into how TikTok’s recommender system processes data of users aged 13-17.

Tiktok to pay £12.7m UK child privacy fine despite disputing watchdog findings The Guardian

Emily Keaney, deputy commissioner of the ICO, emphasized that “our successful action against TikTok shows how important it is for companies to have the right protections in place, including to prevent access by children who are not old enough to be using their services.” Former commissioner John Edwards described TikTok as “not doing enough” on multiple fronts, citing inadequate age-checking and delayed removal of under-age accounts.

The Guardian

The penalty follows a broader regulatory push, with Ofcom signalling that more action is needed as the UK’s new under-16 social-media age limit takes effect next year. The ICO’s renewed algorithm investigation focuses on whether personalised recommendations make it harder for teenagers to stop scrolling and could expose them to harmful content. In the United States, TikTok is also negotiating a separate settlement over similar child-privacy allegations, underscoring heightened global scrutiny of the platform’s data practices.

Tiktok to pay £12.7m UK child privacy fine despite disputing watchdog findings

• “Our successful action against TikTok shows how important it is for companies to have the right protections in place, including to prevent access by children who are not old enough to be using their services.” — Chinese-owned TikTok — Chinese-owned TikTok

The Guardian