LONDON (AP) 鈥� European regulators slapped TikTok with a $368 million fine on Friday for , the first time that the popular short video-sharing app has been punished for breaching Europe's strict data privacy rules.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission, the lead privacy regulator for Big Tech companies whose European headquarters are largely in Dublin, said it was fining TikTok 345 million euros and reprimanding the platform for the violations dating to the second half of 2020.
found that the sign-up process for teen users resulted in settings that made their accounts public by default, allowing anyone to view and comment on their videos. Those default settings also posed a risk to children under 13 who gained access to the platform even though they're not allowed.
Also, a 鈥渇amily pairing" feature designed for parents to manage settings wasn't strict enough, allowing adults to turn on direct messaging for users aged 16 and 17 without their consent. And it nudged teen users into more 鈥減rivacy intrusive鈥� options when signing up and posting videos, the watchdog said.
TikTok said in a statement that it disagrees with the decision, 鈥減articularly the level of the fine imposed.鈥�
The company pointed out that the regulator's criticisms focused on features and settings dating back three years. TikTok said it had made changes well before the investigation , including making all accounts for teens under 16 private by default and disabling direct messaging for 13- to 15-year-olds.
鈥淢ost of the decision鈥檚 criticisms are no longer relevant as a result of measures we introduced at the start of 2021 鈥� several months before the investigation began,鈥� TikTok's head of privacy for Europe, Elaine Fox, wrote in a blog post.
The Irish regulator has been criticized for not moving fast enough in its investigations into Big Tech companies since EU privacy laws took effect in 2018. For TikTok, German and Italian regulators disagreed with parts of a draft decision issued a year ago, delaying it further.
To avoid new bottlenecks, the Brussels headquarters of the 27-nation bloc has been given the job of enforcing new regulations to foster and 鈥� rules aimed at maintaining its position as a .
The Irish watchdog also examined TikTok鈥檚 measures to verify whether users are at least 13 but found they didn鈥檛 break any rules.
The regulator is still carrying out a second investigation into whether TikTok complied with the EU鈥檚 General Data Protection Regulation when it transferred users' personal information to China, where its owner, ByteDance, is based.
TikTok has faced accusations it poses a security risk over . It has embarked on a project to localize European user data to address those concerns: this month, which will be the first of three in on the continent.
, and their owner are among other tech giants that have been hit with big fines by the Irish regulator over the past year.
Kelvin Chan, The Associated Press
