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EU Fines TikTok 345m Euro Over Child Data

Published

8 months ago

September 15, 2023

A European Union regulator fined a Chinese-owned social media platform, TikTok, 345 million euro over child data breaches on Friday.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission said in a statement that it has handed down the “administrative fine”, which is equivalent to $369 million, over the breaches it uncovered in a two-year inquiry.

The watchdog, which plays a central role in enforcing EU data rules, gave TikTok three months to make the appropriate changes.

Ireland’s DPC also play a key role in policing the bloc’s strict General Data Protection Regulations.

The watchdog in September 2021 began examining TikTok’s compliance with GDPR in relation to platform settings and personal data processing for users aged under 18.

It also looked at TikTok’s age verification measures for persons under 13 and found no infringement, but found the platform did not properly assess the risks to younger people registering on the service.

The DPC highlighted Friday in its ruling how children signing up had TikTok accounts set to public by default, meaning anyone could view or comment on their content.

It also criticised TikTok’s “family pairing” mode, which is designed to link parents’ accounts to those of their teenage offspring, but the DPC found the company did not verify parent or guardian status.

Ireland is at the centre of the GDPR regime because Dublin hosts the European headquarters of TikTok and the likes of Google, Meta and X, formerly Twitter.

TikTok, a division of Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is extremely popular among young people with 150 million users in the United States and 134 million in the European Union.

In response to Friday’s fine, TikTok said it “respectfully disagrees” with the verdict and was “evaluating” how to proceed.

“The DPC’s criticisms are focused on features and settings that were in place three years ago, and that we made changes to well before the investigation even began, such as setting all under 16 accounts to private by default,” a TikTok spokesperson told AFP.

AFP

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BREAKING: JAMB Releases 2024 UTME Results

Published

25 mins ago

April 29, 2024

Editor

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has released the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results.

Over 1.94 million candidates registered and sat the examination in 118 towns and over 700 centres across the country.

The Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede announced the release of the UTME results at a press conference held at the board’s headquarters, Bwari, in Abuja on Monday.

The examination which began on Friday, 19th April ended on Monday, 29th April 2024.

The board earlier explained that it chose to delay the release of the UTME results by some days because it needed some time to scrutinize the results to ensure credibility and integrity of the results, ensuring that there are no questions or any form of unclarity concerning the results particularly as regards the issue of impersonation, mixed biometrics, and other forms of malpractices.

Details later…

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JUST IN: WASSCE Begins April 30

Published

56 mins ago

April 29, 2024

Editor

The West African Examinations Council, Nigeria, has said the West African Senior School Certificate Examination for school candidates will commence on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 and end on June 24, 2024.

Speaking on Monday at the WAEC Lagos Office, Head of Nigeria Office, Dr Amos Dangut, said the council was ready to conduct the examination.

Dangut said, “I am delighted to inform you that WASSCE for School Candidates, 2024 will take place between Tuesday, April 30 and Monday, June 24, 2024, in Nigeria, spanning seven weeks and six days. The examination will be conducted in four WAEC member countries, namely: Nigeria, Gambia, Sierra-Leone and Liberia.”
“We want to intimate candidates of the council’s readiness to conduct WASSCE. ”

He added, “We are set for the conduct of WASSCE for School Candidates, in 2024 in Nigeria. The Council also, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, the State Ministries of Education, the Nigeria Police, other security agencies and other stakeholders, deliver, on its mandate to conduct credible examinations for the Nigerian Child and the general public.

“We remain ever grateful to the Honourable Minister of Education, the Honourable Minister of State, for Education, all the State Ministries of Education, the Inspector-General of Police, and indeed, all our stakeholders, for their usual support and cooperation, even as we count on them once again.”

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Jubilation As Obaseki Raises Minimum Wage To N70,000

Published

1 hour ago

April 29, 2024

Editor

The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, has increased the minimum wage for workers in the state from N40,000 to N70,000.

The governor made the announcement at the inauguration of the newly built ultra-modern Labour House secretariat complex for labour unions in the state, along Temboga Road, Ikpoba-Hill, Benin City.

Details shortly…