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| In this file photo illustration, the logo of social media application TikTok is displayed on the screen of an iPhone, in Arlington, Virginia. TikTok has been caught up in the escalating dispute between the United States and China, with the Chinese-owned firm accused of acting as a surveillance tool for Beijing, an allegation it denies. AFP-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
The country's top telecom regulator fined Chinese video-sharing platform TikTok 186 million won ($155,000) over the app operator's mismanagement of user data, with the regulator chief Han Sang-hyuck calling it a "problematic company."
The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said Wednesday the regulator's decision to impose the fine was based on its thorough internal investigation that uncovered TikTok's violation of local telecommunication laws.
"The KCC can confirm TikTok didn't get parental consent when collecting personal data for users younger than 14. Plus, TikTok didn't notify its users of its overseas transfer of personal data. While TikTok had promised children under the age of 14 wouldn't be able to use its service, it didn't operate a proper online age verification process," the KCC said in a statement, adding the telecom regulator also found TikTok collected data on at least 6,007 children under the age of 14 registered to the service between May 31, 2017, and Dec. 6 last year.
TikTok also transferred Korean user data to servers in the United States and Singapore without prior notice, the regulator said. With regard to the KCC's request for the latest updates on its data privacy policies, TikTok said personal information of its Korean users is being managed by cloud-computing service operators in the U.S. and Singapore.
The KCC notified TikTok of the decision Wednesday. The regulator also requested TikTok correct "all problems found" within 30 days. "The KCC ordered TikTok to immediately stop its practice of violating local telecommunication laws."
A few hours after the KCC announcement, one TikTok user in China claimed Korean K-pop stars' TikTok accounts had been deleted. TikTok accounts of some K-pop stars are still active, but some officials didn't rule out the possibility that more K-pop stars' TikTok accounts will be deleted.
Amid intense scrutiny over TikTok as a potential national security risk in the United States, top Washington officials said the United States is considering banning the use of TikTok and other Chinese social media apps such as WeChat.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro recently claimed TikTok is one of the biggest forms of censorship in mainland China. He further alleged that "all of the data that goes into those mobile apps that kids have so much fun with and seem so convenient, it goes right to servers in China, right to the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party and the agencies which want to steal our intellectual property."
Launched by Chinese internet upstart ByteDance, TikTok has been working to distance itself from its Chinese association through efforts such as storing data in the United States and Singapore as well as overhauling its corporate structure, industry officials said. It remains to be seen whether or not Korean companies will join hands with Washington's calls to boycott TikTok, after Wells Fargo and Amazon asked employees to remove TikTok from their mobile phones.
As of last year, TikTok had 3.4 million users here, according to industry tracker WiseApp.
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