TikTok received two bad news on the same day, but it came from different countries. In Australia, the short video app has suffered a ban on all devices owned by the country’s government. In the UK, the programme was fined £12.7 million (close to $80.5 million) for breaching data protection law, which includes rules designed to protect children.
The Australian ban was made official on Tuesday (4) and will be in force “as soon as possible”. According to the country, the decision arose from security-related concerns. Thus, any device directly related to the Australian government will no longer be able to use the Chinese app.
The Oceania region has joined countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and New Zealand in banning the use of the app by federal devices.
A TikTok spokesperson said they were “extremely disappointed” by the decision as it was allegedly made for “political reasons and not facts”.
TikTok Awarded Fine in UK
Also on Tuesday (4), the UK region announced that it will fine TikTok 12.7 million pounds (about 80.5 million reais).
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has claimed that the Chinese app violated the transparency and fairness requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). That’s because the company failed to offer information about data collection to users.
In addition, the company did not do “enough” to check who was actually using the platform. She reportedly failed to take action to prevent minors from using the program. The investigation took place between May 2018 and July 2020, in which it estimated that 1.4 million children under the age of 13 used the app.
An ICO spokesperson released a statement:
We fine TikTok for providing services to children under the age of 13 in the UK and processing their personal data without the consent or consent of their parents, or carers. We expect TikTok to continue its efforts to make proper checks to identify and remove underage children from its platform.
Does TikTok sell user information?
It is worth remembering that on March 23, the CEO of TikTok went to the United States Congress to answer several questions from the country’s Energy and Commerce Committee.
One of the main questions that Shou Zi Chew had to clarify was whether the short video app collects and sells user data. The businessman tried to dodge by making unenlightening statements, which angered the politicians present at the scene.
Frank Pallone, a Democrat and representative of the Committee, was quite blunt: “Do you sell data to anyone?”