Following a Canadian inquiry that revealed TikTok’s efforts to ban children and protect personal information were insufficient, Canadian privacy officials announced on Tuesday that the company has agreed to strengthen its methods to keep kids off its website and app.
Despite TikTok’s claims that its platform is not meant for users under the age of 13, hundreds of thousands of Canadian children use it annually, according to a joint investigation into the app conducted by Canada’s privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne and privacy protection authorities in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec.
Additionally, the inquiry discovered that TikTok had gathered private and sensitive data from “a large number” of Canadian kids and utilized it for content targeting and online marketing.
