Britain's privacy watchdog hit TikTok with a multimillion-dollar penalty on Tuesday for a slew of data protection breaches, including misusing children's data.
that the app poses to data privacy and cybersecurity.
TikTok didn't adequately identify and remove children under 13 from the platform, the watchdog said. And even though it knew younger children were using the app, TikTok failed to get consent from their parents to process their data, as required by Britain's data protection laws, the agency said. TikTok collected and used personal data of children who were inappropriately given access to the app, he said.
TIkTok says it has improved its sign-up system since the breaches happened by no longer allowing users to simply declare they are old enough and looking for other signs that an account is used by someone under 13.The watchdog said TikTok failed to properly inform people about how their data is collected, used and shared in an easily understandable way.