This is the biggest fine imposed on TikTok in Europe and yet it seems very ridiculous. This Thursday, the Cnil announced that it condemned the Chinese social network to a fine of 5 million euros for various shortcomings around the collection of the consent of Internet users on the deposit of advertising cookies. 5 million is twice less than the maximum fine at which the company risked.
The Cnil explained TikTok “proposed a button to immediately accept cookies” but that she “did not put in place an equivalent solution (button or other) to allow the Internet user to refuse their deposit so easily” because “several clicks were necessary to refuse all cookies, against only one to accept them”.
The authority considered that this difference stemmed from a manifest desire “to discourage users from refusing cookies and to encourage them to favor the ease of the ‘Accept all’ button”.
Tiktok, who did not want the case to be made public, says that “User privacy remains a top priority” and recalls that the conviction concerns “past practices” already “modified last year”.
A very small victory for the Cnil
Tiktok is the latest digital giant to be fined. Google, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft and Amazon have also been sanctioned following a major campaign of controls. In total, the fines amount to 400 million euros. A grain of sand compared to the financial results of all these multinationals.
In 2021, TikTok had a turnover of 990 million euros in Europe six times more than the previous year (172 million euros). The company forecast for 2022 a global turnover of 10 billion dollars against 4 billion in 2021 just for advertising revenues.
At Amazon, global revenue reached $469.8 billion in 2021, Apple’s $90.1 billion and Google’s $257.6 billion. Something to ridicule the fines of a few million imposed by the Cnil.
TikTok in turmoil
Although symbolic, this condemnation does not help TikTok’s business. In the United States, the ByteDance social network is subject to a ban on use by civil servants. The deputies are also discussing the fate of the social network on American soil. They accuse TikTok of being a spy tool for Beijing and believe it is a danger to the mental health of young users.
In Europe, TikTok is also closely watched. So much so that the big boss wanted to meet with European commissioners in order to appease people’s minds. In Europe, the new rules introduced by the Digital Market Act and the Digital Services Act impose an exemplary approach on digital giants.
However, the boss of TikTok recently admitted that employees had spied on the accounts of journalists (now fired). Vera Jourova, in charge of values and transparency, asked “make an extra effort (…) to regain the trust of European regulators”.
Among the most sensitive points, “the protection of personal data, the safety of minors, transparency on paid political content and the dissemination on TikTok of Russian disinformation”. In the event that TikTok does not comply with European rules, the sanctions are much more dissuasive: the fine can reach 6% of global turnover or even a ban on service in Europe in the event of a repeat offense.
By: TikTok Pte. ltd.
