TikTok has been fined £12.7 million ($15.9 million) by Britain’s data regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), for breaching the under-13 age limit on its platform.
The Chinese-owned social media company allowed up to 1.4 million children under 13 to set up accounts without parental consent, in violation of its own rules and UK law.
The ICO found that TikTok failed to obtain the necessary consent to use children’s data, which could have been used to track and profile them with inappropriate content.
TikTok, which disputes the findings, said it will review the decision and consider its next steps. The platform’s terms of service prohibit under-13s from using it, but the ICO found that the company did not conduct adequate checks to prevent children from signing up.
TikTok has been facing scrutiny and bans from Western governments over data privacy concerns related to its Chinese ownership. Despite the fine, the company welcomed the ICO’s decision to reduce the penalty from the £27 million it had previously warned TikTok it might face.