On May 12, 2020, the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce initiated an administrate action with the purpose of establishing whether TikTok Pte Ltd. (Singapore), complies or not with the Colombian regulation on the processing of personal data of children and adolescents.
The Superintendence seeks to establish whether TikTok, has implemented the accountability principle in the processing of data of Colombian citizens who use its services.
The application is currently available in more than 150 countries and has more that one billion users, most of them being people between the ages of 13 and 19. The app, which aims to create and share short videos, was launched under the name Douyin in China back in 2016.
Some countries like the United States, led by entities like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), have fined the company back in February of 2019, for 5.7 million US dollars, once it was determined that TikTok has collected data from children under 13 without parental consent (names, phone, email, photo, and biographical data).
The account can be activated by using your existing Google account, Facebook, Instagram, by email, or by phone. Additionally, all accounts are public by default, to anyone registered in the application can see what they share from other accounts, including those accounts created by minors. Users can give likes or react to the videos, follow an account, or send messages to each other.
Risks:
Inappropriate handling of information from minors and uncontrolled exposure of the information given.
Lack of clarity about the purposes and scope of the treatment.
The security measures have been shown to be weak, as it allows access to videos by strangers and theft of information. As well as links sent with malware content.
Competence of the SIC:
If a company is not physically domiciled in Colombia but uses technologies in the territory to collect data, it is obliged to comply with Colombian law and if it does not, it could be sanctioned with fines that could reach up to 2,000 minimum wages.