Ofcom, the U.K.’s media regulator, has on Wednesday fined social media app TikTok £1.875 million ($2.4 million) for failing to accurately and swiftly respond to a request for information on the platform’s parental controls safety feature.
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Its investigation uncovered “a number” of failings in the video-sharing platform’s data governance process. TikTok, it said, had insufficient checks in place leading to an inaccurate data submission to Ofcom, and was also slow in bringing the error to Ofcom’s attention for immediate remedy.
The hefty penalty includes a 25 percent reduction from the fine Ofcom would otherwise have imposed, as a result of TikTok accepting the findings and settling the case.
The Office of Communications, in simple terms, is in charge of protecting viewers and listeners of British television, radio, and other content from harmful or offensive material.
The government-approved regulator was seeking information from TikTok under the regulations of the U.K.’s Online Safety Act to inform a planned report “highlighting the safety measures they have in place to protect children from harmful content.” As part of this process, TikTok was asked to provide data on take-up of its parental controls feature called “Family Pairing.” This, Ofcom said, was crucial to help assess its effectiveness in protecting teenage users, and to empower parents to make decisions about which platforms they and their children use.
TikTok responded to Ofcom’s information request on Sept. 4, 2023. On Dec. 1, TikTok highlighted that the data it had provided was not accurate and that it was conducting an internal investigation to understand the root cause of its inaccuracies. Ofcom then launched an investigation on December 14 into whether the company failed to comply with its duties to respond to a statutory demand for information.
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The delays from TikTok over the discovered inaccuracies and subsequent internal investigation then meant that Ofcom was forced to remove details on TikTok’s parent controls from their report, and despite pressing for progress updates, the app did not provide accurate data until March 28 this year, seven months after the original deadline.
“When we demand data, it must be accurate and submitted on time,” Ofcom’s enforcement director Suzanne Cater said. “We won’t hesitate to take enforcement action if any company fails to do this.”
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter : “We inadvertently provided inaccurate information to Ofcom regarding the use of Family Pairing in the U.K., which significantly undercounted the actual number of people using this pioneering parenting tool. While we subsequently provided the correct information, we fell short of our obligations by not reporting the error sooner, and apologise for any disruption this caused. We are committed to fully cooperating with all of Ofcom’s requests and have implemented improvements to our internal processes.”
The fine is to be passed on to the U.K. government’s treasury department.
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