Ireland · Children · 15 Sep 2023

TikTok fined €345m for public-by-default settings on children's accounts

€345 million fine, a reprimand and an order to comply within three months

Company: TikTok
Regulator or court: Irish Data Protection Commission
Law: GDPR (incl. fairness, transparency and data protection by design and default)
Status: Under appeal (challenge filed at the EU General Court, case T-1030/23)

What happened

In 2020, accounts belonging to 13 to 17-year-olds were set to public by default, so anyone could see their videos. A 'Family Pairing' feature let an unverified adult link to a child's account, and the sign-up process nudged young users towards less private choices. The DPC also found TikTok did not explain these risks clearly to children.

Sources

Irish DPC press release IAPP on the appeal

Summary in our own words. General information, not legal advice.

Ready when you are

Could this happen to you? Let’s find out.

Tell me what you’re building. I’ll tell you what you need. No obligation.

Book an intro call

What happened

Uber fined almost €825m for letting an algorithm switch off drivers' accounts

Reddit fined £14.47m for not checking the age of its users

TikTok fined €530m over staff in China accessing European users' data

Could this happen to you? Let’s find out.