South Korea to Investigate TikTok for Possible Personal Data Protection Act Violation

TapTechNews October 7th news, an official of South Korea's media regulatory agency said on Monday that the agency will launch an investigation into TikTok's possible violation of South Korea's Personal Data Protection Act.

According to insiders, TikTok is accused of automatically pushing advertising content without the user's consent, rather than obtaining the user's explicit consent as required by South Korean law.

An official of the Korea Communications Commission pointed out that the agency believes that TikTok may have violated the Act on Promotion of Utilization of Information and Communications Network and Data Protection, and will soon launch an investigation into this.

The official said, We believe there are problems in TikTok's terms of service and application in obtaining the user's explicit informed consent.

In addition, TikTok is also suspected of not fully informing users of the entire contents of its terms of service and privacy policy when they register.

According to relevant laws, platform companies must allow users to independently choose whether to receive marketing or advertising content and obtain the user's explicit consent before sending these contents, and those who violate this law may face a fine of up to 30 million Korean won (TapTechNews note: currently about 158,000 Chinese yuan).