Due to user data of minors: Tiktok is fined 345 million euros

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Irish data protection authorities have fined video service Tiktok €345 million. The reason for this was an investigation into the handling of user data of minors, which ran from July to December 2020. The Irish data protection authority announced this on Friday.

This specifically concerned some of the platform’s settings and age verification upon registration. The default setting was that posts such as videos from users between the ages of 13 and 17 could be published for everyone to see by default. The comment function in the profiles was also accessible to all other users by default.

Facebook received an even higher fine

Tiktok emphasized in a response that the results of the survey mainly related to attitudes that prevailed three years ago. “And most of these results are no longer relevant due to actions we took before the investigation began.” This means that all accounts of users under the age of 16 are set to private by default.

In addition to the fine, Tiktok was asked to bring its data processing into compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) within three months. The record fine under the GDPR of 1.2 billion euros was imposed on the Facebook group Meta in May.

Tiktok is in the process of moving European user data to a new data center in Ireland. Another data center in Ireland and one in Norway are under construction. By the end of 2024, European user data should be transferred and stored there by default.

Tiktok wants to gain trust in Europe with the plan called ‘Project Clover’. The video app has a difficult political position in the West because it is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance. The European Commission and several European governments have banned the use of the app on their employees’ mobile phones. With ‘Project Clover’, TikTok wants to guarantee that access to personal data of European users is strictly regulated and transparent. (SDA)

Source: Blick