TikTok is set to face a privacy fine by early September for its handling of teenagers’ and children’s data, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
Europe’s network of national privacy regulators, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), on Wednesday resolved disagreements among agencies in an investigation into the popular video-sharing platform used by 125 million people in the bloc.
Their decision kicks off a process giving TikTok’s lead privacy regulator in the EU, the Irish Data Protection Commission, a month to issue the final penalty and any potential measures. The size and details of the fine are unknown.
The Irish data authority in 2021 started probing whether TikTok was respecting children’s privacy under the requirements of the EU’s landmark privacy rulebook, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The Irish regulator wanted to check whether the Chinese-owned app ensured its default settings sufficiently protected children’s privacy and if the company was transparent enough in how it processed minors’ data. One of the trickiest points has also been TikTok’s age-verification practices, intended to keep minors under 13 off its platform. TikTok is supervised by the Irish Data Protection Commission because its EU headquarters are in the country.
The Irish DPC sent the case to the EDPB in May following disagreements with its German and Italian counterparts.
“We’ve yet to receive the final decision so we’re not in a position to comment,” said a TikTok spokesperson.
TikTok in 2021 received a €750,000 fine from the Dutch data protection authority for failing to protect Dutch children’s privacy by not having a privacy policy in their native language. The company is also being investigated by Ireland over the potentially unlawful shipping of European users’ data to China.