6 ms·

TikTok fined £12.7M for misusing children's data

73 points by jayelbe 3y ago

earthnail 3y ago
The internal law team at TikTok likely cost two times as much just processing this case. 12.7M is pocket change.
mdrzn 3y ago
"While we disagree with the ICO's decision, which relates to May 2018 - July 2020, we are pleased that the fine announced today has been reduced to under half the amount proposed last year." So they will pay half of 12.7? Or is 12.7 already the half?
- ac2u 3y ago
  I think the article is saying it's already halved. "It is one of the largest fines the regulator has issued. However, it is still half of what the ICO threatened last year."
- zoom6628 3y ago
  Exactly. Approx £8/child. Uk govt doesn’t value their children highly. Disgusting.
lionkor 3y ago
WHAT! Oh wait nvm its TikTok To be honest, it was expected, right?
noodlesUK 3y ago
See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35437449 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35437449 Dang, maybe the threads should be merged?
FollowingTheDao 3y ago
So what is 12,000,000 divided by 12,000,000,000? This world is a joke and your kids are the punchline.
- aflag 3y ago
  What's 12,000,000,000? The world population is roughly 8 billion, so that can't be the number of users. Maybe number of views?
  - hkt 3y ago
    I'm guessing 12b is a relevant financial number
  - FollowingTheDao 3y ago
    12,000,000,000 is the amount of revenue one single tech company (TikTok) made last year. And apologies, just realized the fine was in Pounds, not Dollars, not that it makes a difference.
rvz 3y ago
This still doesn't go far enough to the standards of the major big tech companies having similar breaches elsewhere. Another slap on the wrist. TikTok should get a fine in the hundreds of millions, and for repeat offences should be in the billions, just like Google and Facebook did. Regulators are never tired of collecting and issuing fines to companies that are repeat offenders for privacy breaches and violations as I said before.
Raed667 3y ago
Probably a rounding error in their budget / lawsuit fund.
nikosg 3y ago
so there’s a right way to use children’s data? or any individual’s data?
- rwmj 3y ago
  The right way is to follow the law.
  - codedokode 3y ago
    The right way is to add permission to sell the data into user agreement and do whatever you want with it.
erklik 3y ago
> It says the breaches happened between May 2018 and July 2020. What was the breach?
- rwmj 3y ago
  The ICO's own press release has more detail: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/04/ico-fines-tiktok-127-million-for-misusing-children-s-data/ https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs... In brief if you offer services to children under 13 you have to get the consent of the parents. Tiktok didn't take care to check if users were under 13, nor attempt to get consent. The ICO estimates 1.4 million children came under this category (in the UK, 2020).
  - cjrp 3y ago
    So a fine of £9/breach effectively; that seems ridiculously low.
    - curiousgal 3y ago
      It's also ridiculously hypocritical to assume parents who leave their kids glued to their phones would not give consent, however that would be.
      - cjrp 3y ago
        Not the law though
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
hkt 3y ago
Charmingly small numbers. I've been thinking for a while: how about governments fine in voting equity rather than cash? Hand the relevant voting equity over to a coop of users. It is probably the only fair way to deal with these things that would be adequately scary to work. Bonus points for bringing about democratic cooperative control of some tech giants.
- krisoft 3y ago
  Wow! That could work. I like it. I believe that would truly terrify owners. Enough to act as a strong deterrent. I'm sure there are a ton of details which need to be worked out, and probably there are drawbacks and secondary effects I'm not seeing. Strange to ask, but... is this your idea? Just because this is the first time I'm hearing this solution. If it is yours, congrats. If you think you had it from somewhere else, does it have a name by any chance? (just so I can read up on it.)
  - hkt 3y ago
    It is my idea. I'm a nerd for collective ownership and democratic management of going concerns so it seemed like a natural leap. Maybe I ought to write something about it.
- retox 3y ago
  Would just be abused as a stealth takeover mechanism where voting power when to a chosen few.
hahaxdxd123 3y ago
Article is light on details. What did TikTok do? Did they literally just not have a checkbox for confirming that the user was older than 13 when they sign up? Seems like a rookie mistake.
- yrro 3y ago
  Failed to get consent from parents https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/04/ico-fines-tiktok-127-million-for-misusing-children-s-data/ https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs...
  - hbbio 3y ago
    Now let's do Roblox! This has to be the worse company regarding exploiting children.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
iamacyborg 3y ago
This explains why they were running a ton of OOH ads about kid's safety on the platform a few months ago then.
w14 3y ago
My question is why have they singled out Tiktok? This seems political to me. Last year Ofcom published a report on childrens' use of social media. It found: "For children aged 8-12 who used social media the proportions with their own profile were; eight in ten (79%) among Snapchat users, 72% for Facebook, around two-thirds on each of the other platforms (i.e. TikTok, Instagram, Twitter), except YouTube at 43%." - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/245004/children-user-ages-chart-pack.pdf https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/245004/...

73 points by jayelbe 3y ago

The internal law team at TikTok likely cost two times as much just processing this case. 12.7M is pocket change.

"While we disagree with the ICO's decision, which relates to May 2018 - July 2020, we are pleased that the fine announced today has been reduced to under half the amount proposed last year." So they will pay half of 12.7? Or is 12.7 already the half?

ac2u 3y ago
I think the article is saying it's already halved. "It is one of the largest fines the regulator has issued. However, it is still half of what the ICO threatened last year."
zoom6628 3y ago
Exactly. Approx £8/child. Uk govt doesn’t value their children highly. Disgusting.

lionkor 3y ago

WHAT! Oh wait nvm its TikTok To be honest, it was expected, right?

noodlesUK 3y ago

See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35437449 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35437449 Dang, maybe the threads should be merged?

FollowingTheDao 3y ago

So what is 12,000,000 divided by 12,000,000,000? This world is a joke and your kids are the punchline.

aflag 3y ago
What's 12,000,000,000? The world population is roughly 8 billion, so that can't be the number of users. Maybe number of views?
- hkt 3y ago
  I'm guessing 12b is a relevant financial number
- FollowingTheDao 3y ago
  12,000,000,000 is the amount of revenue one single tech company (TikTok) made last year. And apologies, just realized the fine was in Pounds, not Dollars, not that it makes a difference.

rvz 3y ago

This still doesn't go far enough to the standards of the major big tech companies having similar breaches elsewhere. Another slap on the wrist. TikTok should get a fine in the hundreds of millions, and for repeat offences should be in the billions, just like Google and Facebook did. Regulators are never tired of collecting and issuing fines to companies that are repeat offenders for privacy breaches and violations as I said before.

Raed667 3y ago

Probably a rounding error in their budget / lawsuit fund.

nikosg 3y ago

so there’s a right way to use children’s data? or any individual’s data?

rwmj 3y ago
The right way is to follow the law.
- codedokode 3y ago
  The right way is to add permission to sell the data into user agreement and do whatever you want with it.

erklik 3y ago

> It says the breaches happened between May 2018 and July 2020. What was the breach?

rwmj 3y ago
The ICO's own press release has more detail: https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/04/ico-fines-tiktok-127-million-for-misusing-children-s-data/ https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs... In brief if you offer services to children under 13 you have to get the consent of the parents. Tiktok didn't take care to check if users were under 13, nor attempt to get consent. The ICO estimates 1.4 million children came under this category (in the UK, 2020).
- cjrp 3y ago
  So a fine of £9/breach effectively; that seems ridiculously low.
  - curiousgal 3y ago
    It's also ridiculously hypocritical to assume parents who leave their kids glued to their phones would not give consent, however that would be.
    - cjrp 3y ago
      Not the law though
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

hkt 3y ago

Charmingly small numbers. I've been thinking for a while: how about governments fine in voting equity rather than cash? Hand the relevant voting equity over to a coop of users. It is probably the only fair way to deal with these things that would be adequately scary to work. Bonus points for bringing about democratic cooperative control of some tech giants.

krisoft 3y ago
Wow! That could work. I like it. I believe that would truly terrify owners. Enough to act as a strong deterrent. I'm sure there are a ton of details which need to be worked out, and probably there are drawbacks and secondary effects I'm not seeing. Strange to ask, but... is this your idea? Just because this is the first time I'm hearing this solution. If it is yours, congrats. If you think you had it from somewhere else, does it have a name by any chance? (just so I can read up on it.)
- hkt 3y ago
  It is my idea. I'm a nerd for collective ownership and democratic management of going concerns so it seemed like a natural leap. Maybe I ought to write something about it.
retox 3y ago
Would just be abused as a stealth takeover mechanism where voting power when to a chosen few.

hahaxdxd123 3y ago

Article is light on details. What did TikTok do? Did they literally just not have a checkbox for confirming that the user was older than 13 when they sign up? Seems like a rookie mistake.

yrro 3y ago
Failed to get consent from parents https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs/2023/04/ico-fines-tiktok-127-million-for-misusing-children-s-data/ https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/media-centre/news-and-blogs...
- hbbio 3y ago
  Now let's do Roblox! This has to be the worse company regarding exploiting children.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

iamacyborg 3y ago

This explains why they were running a ton of OOH ads about kid's safety on the platform a few months ago then.

w14 3y ago

My question is why have they singled out Tiktok? This seems political to me. Last year Ofcom published a report on childrens' use of social media. It found: "For children aged 8-12 who used social media the proportions with their own profile were; eight in ten (79%) among Snapchat users, 72% for Facebook, around two-thirds on each of the other platforms (i.e. TikTok, Instagram, Twitter), except YouTube at 43%." - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/245004/children-user-ages-chart-pack.pdf https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/245004/...