TikTok, along with online forum site Reddit and image-sharing site Imgur, are to be investigated by the UK’s data protection watchdog over how they use personal information of teenage users.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it wanted to look into how TikTok uses the personal information of 13-17-year-olds to deliver content recommendations to them.
The investigations into Reddit and Imgur are focused on how they use children’s personal information and their use of age assurance measures, such as how they estimate or verify a child’s age, which can then be used to tailor their experience on the platform.
The regulator said it was taking the action in light of growing concerns around how social media platforms were using data generated by children’s online activity to power their recommendation algorithms, and the potential for young people to be served inappropriate or harmful content as a result.
The ICO also introduced a children’s code for online privacy in 2021, which requires firms to take steps to protect children’s personal information online.
Information commissioner John Edwards told the PA news agency that the regulator expected to find plenty of positive safety elements in place across the sites during its investigation, but wanted to ensure their processes were “robust”.
“It’s what they’re collecting, it’s how they work,” he told PA.
“I will expect to find that there will be many benign and positive uses of children’s data in their recommender systems.
“I would expect to find there will be elements that are designed to keep children safe and to make sure they only get appropriate things, and that’s all for the good.
“What I am concerned about is whether they are sufficiently robust to prevent children being exposed to harm, either from addictive practices on the device or the platform, or from content that they see, or from other unhealthy practices.”
The ICO said its investigations were to look into whether there had been any infringements of data protection legislation, and if any evidence of potential breaches is found, the regulator said it would put it to the platforms and obtain their representations before reaching a final conclusion.
Mr Edwards said the regulator was “not picking on TikTok” by making it the subject of an investigation on a topic common across social media, and hoped to understand more about the wider social media landscape through the investigation.
“We’ve got to choose one – we can’t spread ourselves too thinly,” he said.
“We’re not picking on TikTok.
“We hope to learn lessons that the whole industry will be able to adopt.
“The selection was made based on the direction of growth travel in relation to young users, market dominance and potential for harm.
“But the underlying technology is what’s interesting to us and that’s present in X, it’s present in (Instagram’s) Reels, it’s present in Snapchat, it’s there across the board on digital platforms.
“Now, they’re all competing for attention and eyeballs, and so they’re using techniques to maximise those.”
A TikTok spokesperson said: “We’re deeply committed to ensuring a positive experience for young people on TikTok, just like the ICO.
“Our recommender systems are designed and operate under strict and comprehensive measures that protect the privacy and safety of teens, including industry-leading safety features and robust restrictions on the content allowed in teens’ feeds.”
