TikTok withdrew its appeal of a £12.7m UK fine for children’s privacy breaches. It also dropped its appeal of an ICO information notice. The fine was for failing to remove under-13 users and obtain parental consent. The ICO estimated 1.75 million UK children under 13 used TikTok in 2020. TikTok failed to provide clear data-use information to users. An August tribunal ruling rejected TikTok’s artistic-purpose defense. The ICO can now advance its probe into TikTok’s recommender systems for teens. The ICO says its work has helped protect nearly five million child users. The investigation targets how recommender systems profile 13-17-year-olds. The ICO noted concerns about harmful content exposure via these systems.

• £12.7m fine
• 1.75 million UK children under 13 in 2020
• 5 million child users protected