On September 27, it was reported that on Monday local time, British regulators sent a warning notice to TikTok, a short video application, saying that it failed to protect the privacy of British children and might face a fine of 29 million dollars for this.
9月27日,当地时间周一,英国监管机构向短视频应用报告TikTok警告称,它未能保护英国儿童的隐私,因此可能面临2900万美元的罚款。
The Office of the United Kingdom Information Commissioner (ICO) said in the notice that TikTok handled the information of teenagers without proper permission from parents, handled sensitive details without legal basis, and did not explain the data practices of the platform in a way that children could easily understand. This is the first major case in Britain after the introduction of new regulations to protect minors from surfing the Internet.
英国信息专员办公室(ICO)通知中称,TikTok在没有父母适度许可的情况下处理青少年信息,在没有法律依据的情况下处理敏感细节,在没有孩子容易理解的情况下解释平台的数据实践。这是英国新法律法规颁布后的第一起重大案件。
Although the above findings are provisional, the legal documents issued by the ICO to TikTok indicate that the regulator intends to take action against the latter.
虽然上述调查报告都是临时性的,但是ICO发给TikTok法律文件表明,监管机构准备将后者付诸行动。
A TikTok spokesman issued a statement via email saying: "Although we respect the role of ICO in protecting the privacy of UK users, we do not agree with its preliminary views and intend to formally respond to ICO at an appropriate time."
TikTok发言人通过电子邮件发表声明:“尽管我们尊重ICO保护英国用户隐私的效果,但我们不同意其初步观点,并计划在适当的时候正式回应ICO。”
This is not the first time TikTok has been accused of failing to protect the privacy of young users. In 2019, TikTok's predecessor, Musical Ly was charged with violating the US federal children's online privacy law and agreed to pay a fine of 5.7 million US dollars to settle the case.
这并不是TikTok第一次面临未能保护年轻用户隐私的指控。2019年,TikTok的前身Musical.ly被控违反美国联邦儿童网络隐私法,同意支付570万美元罚款结案。
One year before TikTok's privacy complaint, the UK introduced a new regulation called Children's Code to strengthen the protection of minors.
在针对TikTok一年前,英国发布了一项名为《儿童法典》的隐私投诉(Children’sCode)加强对未成年人的保护。
These rules require online services such as social networks and video game platforms to consider the best interests of children when designing products and functions. In addition, these provisions also require online services that may be used by children to open the highest privacy settings for young users, and prohibit these services from tracking the exact location of children.
这些规则要求在产品设计和功能上考虑儿童的最佳利益,如社交网络和视频游戏平台。此外,这些规定还要求可能被儿童使用的在线服务为年轻客户开放最高隐私设置,并禁止这些服务跟踪儿童的准确位置。
In the months before the Children's Code came into force in the UK last year, popular applications such as YouTube, Snap, TikTok and Instagram announced that they would strengthen the protection of children. The UK regulator said that the investigation of TikTok is an important part of the UK's efforts to ensure that companies comply with the new rules.
去年《儿童法典》在英国起效前几个月,YouTube,Snap,TikTok和Instagram流行应用程序宣布,他们将加强对儿童的保护。英国监管机构表示,他们告诉英国监管机构,他们将加强对儿童的保护。TikTok调查是英国确保公司遵守新规则的重要组成部分。
John Edwards, the UK information commissioner, said in a statement: "We are currently investigating how more than 50 different online services comply with the Children's Code, and are conducting six investigations against companies providing digital services. In our initial view, these companies did not seriously fulfill their responsibility to protect children."
英国信息专员约翰·爱德华兹(JohnEdwards)在一份声明中说:“目前,我们正在调查50种不同的在线服务如何遵循儿童法典,并正在对提供数字服务的企业进行六项调查。一开始,我们认为这些公司没有足够认真地履行保护儿童安全的责任。”
Edwards also said: "Before making a final decision, we will carefully consider any statement made by TikTok. We all hope that children can learn and experience the digital world, but with appropriate data privacy protection."
爱德华兹还说:“在做出最终决定之前,我们会仔细考虑TikTok所有的解释。我们都希望孩子们能学习和体验数字世界,但要有适当的数据隐私保护。”
Two weeks ago, inspired by British efforts, California, the United States, promulgated a comprehensive new network security act for minors, namely, the California Age Appropriate Design Code Act, which will take effect in 2024.
两周前,受英国努力的启发,加州为未成年人颁布了一项全面的新网络安全法,即《加州学龄设计标准法》(CaliforniaAge-AppropriateDesignCodeAct),这将于2024年起效。