For collecting data from children under 14 without the consent of their legal guardians, the South Korean regulatory authority fined TikTok.
The video-sharing platform, a subsidiary of China’s ByteDance, was punished by paying the equivalent of $ 155,000 in the local currency, BBC News reported.
Following an investigation launched in 2019, the Korean Communications Commission (KCC) determined that the company unauthorizedly obtained the records of more than 6,000 people over a period of six months.
The social network informed users that their personal data was transferred abroad, the agency added.
The same medium emphasized that the violation of local privacy laws generated a fine that represents approximately 3 percent of the annual income of the social network.
Despite the facts, TikTok said it was “deeply committed” to compliance with the regulations.
A spokesperson who was not individualized noted that at the company, “we adhere to very high standards in data privacy and work to continually improve and strengthen our standards.”
BBC News recalled that the United States is considering banning Chinese social media, including TikTok, and that in 2019 its subsidiary Musical.ly was fined $ 5.7 million for similar reasons.
“The Federal Trade Commission said that the platform knowingly hosted content published by minors,” he said.
Following the death of an undetermined number of Indian servicemen following a border skirmish with their Chinese counterparts, the New Delhi authorities banned the app.
The platform suffered another setback in Hong Kong, a market from which it ended up leaving after the implementation of new security laws by Beijing.
