Tech companies providing services cannot come at the expense of children’s privacy, ICO head said.
The UK’s data watchdog has launched separate investigations into how social media platforms TikTok and Reddit and the image sharing and hosting platform Imgur protect children’s privacy in the country.
According to its announcement today (3 March), the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will investigate how TikTok uses the personal information of 13- to 17-year-olds in the UK to make content suggestions based on its recommender algorithm. While Imgur and Reddit are being probed about their data processing practices of children’s personal information, as well as their age-assurance measures.
This is not the first time TikTok has been investigated by the ICO. In 2023, the data privacy watchdog fined the platform £12.7m for failing to protect the privacy of children online.
The UK’s Online Safety Act, which was passed in 2023, places duties on online platforms to protect children’s safety, including effective privacy-preserving and age-assurance technologies to prevent children from encountering harmful content.
However, age-assurance measures, which generally include a combination of age verification and estimation, could require platforms to process highly sensitive data, including photo IDs, banking information or data from mobile network operators.
The ICO’s latest investigations are a part of “wider interventions” into how social media and video-sharing platforms use children’s data, the watchdog said.
The UK welcomes technology and innovation, but not at the expense of children’s privacy, said John Edwards, the UK information commissioner.
“My message is simple. If social media and video sharing platforms want to benefit from operating in the UK, they must comply with data protection law. The responsibility to keep children safe online lies firmly at the door of the companies offering these services.
“In announcing these investigations, we are making it clear to the public what action we are currently taking to ensure children’s information rights are upheld. This is a priority area, and we will provide updates about any further action we decide to take,” Edwards added.
The ICO launched a Children’s code in 2021, which contains standards that online services, including apps, search engines, platforms and games need to follow.
The code stipulates that – among other things – online services retain only the minimum amount of information required to provide services to children, undertake data protection impact assessments to mitigate risks posed to children and employ transparency and clear language when providing privacy-related information to children.
In the past year, the ICO has taken regulatory interventions to stop X from serving advertisements to those under 18, while also removing minors’ ability to opt in to geolocation services on the platform.
Moreover, BeReal, the social-networking app known for its daily photo-sharing feature, was stopped from allowing children to post their precise location online.
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