TikTokfines & penalties

The Irish DPC fined TikTok for unlawfully transferring EU users' data to China without ensuring equivalent protection, and for related transparency failures.

The Irish DPC found that TikTok set children's accounts to public by default and had weak age-assurance safeguards, exposing young users' content.

Alabama settled claims that TikTok Inc. built its platform with addictive features, knowingly exposed young users to serious mental harm, and misled the public about its safety. The case was set for trial the following week and would have been the first state case against TikTok to reach trial.

Brazil's data-protection authority fined ByteDance for processing the personal data of children and adolescents without a valid legal basis, across both logged-in accounts and guest browsing, and for failing to stop minors from registering in the first place.

The UK Information Commissioner found that TikTok processed the data of children under 13 without parental consent, did not carry out adequate checks to identify and remove underage users, and did not clearly explain how it collected, used and shared data. The ICO estimated that up to 1.4 million UK children under 13 used the platform in 2020, although its own rules barred them.