Turkey’s Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) has imposed a fine of TL 1,750,000 ($92,652) on TikTok for viewing children’s personal information without parental consent and unauthorized data collection, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Wednesday.
According to a decision published on the KVKK website on Wednesday, the authority had initiated an investigation into TikTok over various news reports and complaints from users saying that the TikTok application doesn’t obtain consent in accordance with the law, that there are illegalities involved in obtaining and storing personal data and that there are many security flaws in its software.
As a result of an examination of TikTok’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, the KVKK determined that TikTok hasn’t taken all necessary technical and administrative measures to ensure the appropriate level of security in order to prevent the unlawful processing of personal data, Anadolu said.
“It was understood that before the update of the privacy policy in January 2021, the personal information of children under the age of 13 using the application was viewed and data was collected about children without appropriate parental consent, and so there was a risk of negative consequences for children who used the application,” the KVKK stated.
The KVKK, therefore, decided to impose TL 1,750,000 ($92,652) administrative fine on TikTok, in addition to instructing the company to translate the Terms of Service into Turkish in one month, to make the Privacy Policy comply with the law in three months and to draft a clarification in accordance with the law.