On foreign News,
A European Union regulator fined Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok 345 million euros over child data breaches on Friday.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said in a statement that it has handed down the “administrative fine”, which is equivalent to $369 million, over the breaches it uncovered in a two-year inquiry.
The watchdog gave TikTok three months “to bring its processing into compliance” with its rules.
EU member Ireland’s DPC plays a key role in policing the bloc’s strict General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).
The watchdog in September 2021 began examining TikTok’s compliance with GDPR in relation to platform settings and personal data processing for users aged under 18.
It also looked at TikTok’s age verification measures for persons under 13 and found no infringement, but found the platform did not properly assess the risks to younger people registering on the service.
The DPC highlighted on Friday that in its ruling how children signing up had TikTok accounts set to public by default, meaning anyone could view or comment on their content.
It also criticised TikTok’s “family pairing” mode, which is designed to link parents’ accounts to those of their teenage offspring, but the DPC found the company did not verify parent or guardian status.
