TikTok fined €345 million for EU child data breaches

TikTok has incurred a hefty €345 million penalty for violating EU regulations related to the handling of children's personal data, which encompassed shortcomings in safeguarding the content of underage users from public visibility. The European Union asserted that the Chinese video platform had violated numerous GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) provisions.
The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) has made its final decision on TikTok Technology Limited (TTL) after investigating its actions between July 31, 2020, and December 31, 2020. The inquiry focused on whether TTL followed privacy rules, specifically regarding child users on TikTok, including settings and age verification.

After the investigation, the DPC initially proposed that TTL had violated several GDPR rules. However, objections were raised by authorities in Italy and Berlin. Berlin sought to add a violation regarding the fairness principle, while Italy wanted to reverse TTL's compliance status with age verification rules.

Since consensus couldn't be reached, the DPC referred the objections to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) for resolution. The EDPB made its decision on August 2, 2023. It directed the DPC to include a new violation related to fairness, as requested by Berlin, and to update the order for compliance, considering this new violation.

TTL is now required to make necessary changes within three months of receiving the DPC's decision notification and is also facing administrative fines totaling €345 million.