The European Union fined Tiktok 345 million euros

The social network violated EU rules on handling personal data of minors. The company does not agree with the conclusions of the European Union and the amount of the fine.
The social network Tiktok has to pay a fine of 345 million euros for violating European data protection laws. The popular video service among teenagers has breached European Union requirements for the handling of personal data of minors, an Irish authority acting on behalf of the European Union said on Friday (September 15) because Tiktok's European headquarters are in Ireland. data protection commission (DPC).

In 2021, the DPC opened an investigation into Tiktok, a subsidiary of Chinese concern Bytedance, after investigating videos posted on the social network in the second half of 2020. Currently, Tiktok has more than 130 million users in the European Union. First of all, the commission criticized the fact that the posts of minors are open for full viewing without any restrictions.

Teenagers under 13 years old could open their own page on the social network

Although it is possible to register on the social network after the age of 13, many young teenagers managed to open accounts. According to the DPC, the company did not adequately consider the risks to these children. The "family link" feature, which allows teens to connect to one of their parents' accounts on its page, has also been criticized because Tiktok doesn't verify that the account actually belongs to the teen's parent or guardian.

Tiktok's management disagrees with the fine, especially its size, and is studying the possibility of further action, a company representative told AFP. He also noted that the controversial settings and functions of the social network were changed after 2020. This year, 17 million pages belonging to teenagers under the age of 13 have been deleted.

In April this year, the UK ICO fined Tiktok £12.7 million for allowing the social network to register 1.4 million teenagers under the age of 13 in 2020 and use their information without parental permission. (14.8 million euros) fined. For similar violations, the social network was fined 750,000 euros in the Netherlands in 2021, and 5.7 million dollars (5.3 million euros) in the United States in 2019.

Source: Kun.uz