Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with social media platforms, such as TikTok, on compliance with UK GDPR regarding the use of default opt-in settings for training generative AI models on user-generated content.

The Government regularly engages with social media platforms but has not discussed this particular issue with TikTok.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), as the UK’s independent data protection regulator, is responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance and continues to engage directly with companies on these issues, including the appropriate use of user-generated content for model training. The ICO has published a range of guidance on how data protection laws apply to AI systems that process personal data: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/artificial-intelligence/. The ICO also has powers to investigate and impose penalties for non-compliance.

The use of personal data to develop and train generative AI systems should be fair, lawful and transparent, in line with the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).