O TikTok was notified by the UK privacy regulator for suspected breaches of the country’s data protection law, including processing information from children under the age of 13 without parental consent.
As reported by Gizmodo, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued a notice of intent to the representative of the social network in the country. This type of warning usually comes before the regulator decides whether to charge a fine.
The social network could be hit with a fine of £27 million.. The ICO has reason to believe that the platform may have collected and processed data from underage users between May 2018 and July 2020.
The company may also have failed to provide users with adequate information about how their data is processed. TikTok’s user base is quite broad and is known to include children under the age of 13, although the network denies this.
The platform declined to share information about the contents of the notice of intent, citing its confidentiality. However, a spokesperson told Gizmodo that the company has nothing to hide and that everything will be cleared up.
“This Notice of Intent and no final conclusions can be drawn at this time. While we respect the ICO’s role in protecting privacy in the UK, we disagree with the preliminary views expressed and intend to formally respond to the ICO in due course.”
If the ICO finds evidence that TikTok mishandled underage user data, it could open up the possibility for other regulators elsewhere on the planet to take similar action.
In mid-2018, the ICO issued to the Facebook a similar notice of intent. At the time, the regulator made significant allegations about how the social network had mishandled user data. The case ended up in the courts and a deal was made.
