South Korea has imposed a fine worth about Sh17 million on video-sharing app TikTok. The Korea Communications Authority (KCC) fined the company over allegations of mishandling children’s data amid growing concerns regarding users’ privacy.
According to KCC, TikTok collected users’ data from children under 14 years of age without consent from their guardians. The sensational social media platform responded that it was “deeply committed” to meeting the requirements of the law.
The investigation which started last year revealed that the app had collected more than 6,000 records involving children for over six months, contrary to the local privacy laws.
The regulator also provided that the Chinese firm failed to inform users that their personal data was transferred overseas.
Read: SnapChat Takes On TikTok With Notable Navigation Change
in February 2019, while still under Musical.ly before its transfer to ByteDance, the company was fined $5.7 million for failing to protect children’s data privacy in the United States.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, TikTok knowingly hosted content published by underage users.
Last month, the app, along with 59 other Chinese apps were banned in India.
Earlier this month, TikTok announced that it was exiting the Hong Kong market following new security measures in China.
Read Also: U.S. Considering Banning TikTok And Other Chinese Social Media Apps
Last week, the U.S. announced plans that it was considering banning TikTok and all other Chinese apps citing suspicion that the app was harvesting users data and working closely with the Chinese government.
“We hold ourselves to very high standards on data privacy, and work to continuously improve and strengthen our standards,” a TikTok spokesperson said regarding the issue.
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