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TikTok logo: privacy advocates were bothered by the browser version of the service
Photo: Michael Dwyer/AP
The French data protection supervisory authority CNIL has imposed a fine of five million euros on TikTok.
The reason was a violation of French data protection laws: the supervisory authority complained, among other things, that it was too difficult for users to object to the processing of personal data.
While cookies could be accepted with one click, opting out of the use of the data-collecting files required several steps.
The proceedings were not about TikTok's smartphone app, but about the browser version of the service.
In recent years, the French data protection authority has repeatedly imposed high fines for the cookie banners of large IT companies.
According to the CNIL, Facebook and Google should pay a total of 210 million euros.
TikTok promises improvement
In a statement, TikTok emphasized that the penalty relates to a previous version of their cookie banner.
In the meantime, improvements have been made and additional information about data processing has been added.
The social media platform has an increasingly difficult position in Europe because of its data collection practice.
To avoid further confrontations, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew traveled to Brussels on Tuesday and met with EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, among others.
Concrete results were not known.
However, the EU Commission emphasized in a statement that TikTok must comply with the obligations under the new Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act, which are intended to limit the power of large online platforms.
The subsidiary of the Chinese group ByteDance also has problems with politics in the USA.
Congress banned the app from all U.S. government service smartphones.
At least 22 states have now joined this step.
The reason for this is concerns that security-related data could be spied on via the app and sent to China.
tmk/Reuters/dpa
