Is the social network TikTok sufficiently protecting children? ByteDance's short video sharing platform is once again in the crosshairs of the authorities, this time British. The body responsible for defending privacy in the UK, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), announced on Monday, March 3, that it was opening an investigation against the Chinese platform. In its sights: the way in which the social network uses the personal data of 13-17 year-olds to suggest or recommend content to them.
Social networks use algorithms that determine the content of the news feed. This content varies depending on the age and interests of users. However, TikTok is said to be using the personal data of 13-17 year-olds, as well as data generated by their online activity, in its recommendation system, " which could lead to offering young people inappropriate or harmful content", writes the British CNIL.
Since 2021, platforms in the United Kingdom must comply with the "Children's Online Privacy Code", a text which aims to ensure that social networks take measures to protect personal data of minors. If platforms can collect their data, it should be done to a minimum, and the data collected should be treated with extra precautions.
Is TikTok doing enough to prevent children from being exposed to harmful content?
For John Edwards, head of the ICO, the whole point of the investigation is to ensure that the processes TikTok has put in place to keep children safe “are robust enough to prevent them from being exposed to harm, whether it’s addictive practices (…), content they see or other unhealthy practices,” he told the PA news agency, as quoted by Guardian.
TikTok believes that "(its) recommendation systems are designed and operate under strict and comprehensive measures that protect the privacy and safety of teenagers, including industry-leading safety features and strict restrictions on the content allowed in teenagers' news feeds", reports Politico.
The British authority is not the first in Europe to look into the matter. The platform preferred by young people has been accused for years of harming the mental health of adolescents. Not only would its algorithm make the network highly addictive, designed to keep children watching the site as long and as often as possible with its push notifications, in-app purchases and the fact that videos scroll indefinitely. But it would highlight problematic content such as videos promoting anorexia or dangerous games.
In France, TikTok was the subject of a complaint filed by theAlgos Victima collective last November. The platform is accused of having disseminated problematic content to adolescents advocating self-harm, anorexia or suicide, after the latter watched videos related to diet or self-image. However, such content would have damaged their mental and physical health by fueling, or even amplifying, their malaise, explain the seven French families united in the collective.
In Brussels, the European Commission opened an investigation under the DSA in February 2024 on the same subject. The European executive was also concerned about the negative effects of TikTok's algorithms, likely to accelerate "behavioral addictions" and promote the bottomless pit effect ("rabbit hole") into which users sink deeper and deeper.
In the United States too, TikTok was attacked in November 2024 by 13 American states, as well as the District of Columbia, which accuse it of not sufficiently protecting young users.
Reddit and Imgur also concerned
Across the Channel, the ICO will not only look at TikTok. The authority will closely study two other platforms: the forum site Reddit and the image-sharing platform Imgur. The UK’s CNIL plans to review how the two companies assess the age of their underage users.
“If we believe there is sufficient evidence that either company has breached the law, we will share this with them and await their comments before reaching a final conclusion,” the UK regulator said in its statement.
In 2023, the ICO had already fined TikTok around €15 million for breaching local data protection legislation: the platform was accused of using the personal data of children under the age of 13 without their parents’ consent – the social network has appealed the decision.
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