Why TikTok has been asked to pay $368 million fine

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) of Ireland has imposed a EUR 345 million (approximately $367 million) fine on TikTok for mishandling of children’s data.

In 2021, an investigation was launched to evaluate TikTok’s compliance with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws. The Irish data watchdog, which oversees the app across the EU, has found that TikTok has committed multiple GDPR violations.

The Irish Data Protection Commission found that TikTok violated GDPR by setting children’s accounts to public by default, allowing adults to enable direct messaging for over-16s, and not properly considering the risks to under-13s on the platform.