A new report from Canada’s privacy watchdogs says TikTok collected the personal and potentially sensitive information of “a large number” of Canadian children.
The joint investigation, conducted by the privacy commissioners of Canada, British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta, assessed TikTok’s collection, use, and disclosure of personal information for targeted ads and personalized content, particularly for children.
“TikTok was collecting and using the personal information of children with no legitimate need or bona fide interest.”
The investigators found that TikTok had “inadequate measures” to keep children off the platform, which were limited to a voluntary age gate and human moderation. These were “largely ineffective,” according to the investigation report, even though TikTok has access to more extensive age verification tools it uses for other features, including its live streaming and business functions.
TikTok removes approximately 500,000 underage Canadian users from the platform each year. That the platform still collected information about those users before they were removed, the report states. Given this, the privacy commissioners found it likely that many more children continue to use and share information with TikTok.
“Ultimately, the [privacy commissioners] found that TikTok was collecting and using the personal information of children with no legitimate need or bona fide interest, and that its practices were therefore inappropriate,” the report states.
The platform can collect information about users’ health, political opinions, gender identity, and sexual orientation, as well as biometric information via facial and voice analytics to infer their age and gender for personalized ads, according to the report. The investigators also raised concerns that advertisers could target TikTok users based on their transgender status.
“TikTok claimed that this was not supposed to be possible but was unable to explain how or why this option had been available,” the report states.
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TikTok can collect such personal information with proper consent, but the investigation found TikTok’s privacy policy for both teens and adults to be “not valid or meaningful” in disclosing how the data was collected or used.
While investigators say TikTok “generally disagreed” with the findings, the company committed to updating its age assurance mechanisms and how its privacy policy explains its data-gathering and usage practices. TikTok will also no longer allow advertisers to target users younger than 18, except through generic categories such as language and approximate location. The company will also make privacy settings easily reviewable for its 14 million Canadian users. BetaKit has reached out to TikTok for comment.
The investigators said they deem this matter to be conditionally resolved, but TikTok is still going through other troubles. The company is in the midst of a legal challenge to the Canadian government’s order to shut down its operations in the country last year. The shutdown order aimed to address unspecified “national security risks” related to the operations of TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance. TikTok called the national security review process “procedurally unfair,” and re-upped the issue this past July by requesting a face-to-face meeting with Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly.
South of the border, officials are finalizing a forced sale of the Chinese-owned social media platform to an American software giant, Oracle, which will license a copy of TikTok’s recommendation algorithm and control how it works for American users. ByteDance will retain less than a 20 percent stake in the new American version of the app following the deal, according to CNN.