‘I thought It was a glitch’: Man receives Rs 51.3 lakh phone bill after daughter streams TikTok on holiday

The family called it “ridiculous” and said they have been trying to fix it for two months. (Image credit: Representational image/AI

• Family hit with £42,000 bill due to daughter's TikTok usage
• Data roaming outside Europe was uncapped in their contract
• Father criticizes provider for not warning about high charges

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A British family were left shocked after receiving a £42,000 (Rs 51.3 lakh) mobile phone bill while on holiday. At first, they feared that their bumper had been hacked, but later discovered that their daughter's heavy TikTok streaming had caused the massive charges. The Alty family were travelling in Marrakech when the first part of the huge bill arrived.

Andrew Alty, who runs a curtains business, said he was left shell-shocked on receiving the O2 bill. He later learned that his daughter had watched TikTok for 8 hours on the trip, which led to the extensive bill.

Before the trip, he purchased the phone contract for his small business through Curry’s. However, he later realised that he overlooked a clause stating that data roaming outside Europe was uncapped.

He was billed over £5,000 for every hour his daughter used the social media platform, with the total reaching £42,000.

Andrew said he was furious with the service provider for allowing the charges to build up without warning. “There’s no way they should be able to charge that. They made no effort to inform us and just allowed the charges to accrue. I don’t understand how they expect any small business to pay that sort of bill.”

Like most people, Andrew believed the first £22,000 bill was an error. He assumed that there had been a technical glitch and immediately tried to contact 02. "I could only assume there had been a glitch, or the account had been hacked," he said.

After returning home, the family received a second bill amounting to £20,000. This is when he realised the full extent of the issue. Calling it "ridiculous", the family said they have been trying for two months to get it sorted.

People from the UK are charged for data roaming when their phones connect to networks abroad. However, before Brexit, they could enjoy free roaming across the European Union at no additional cost.