The Italian data protection authority says it imposes an immediate block on TikTok access to the data of any user who has not verified the age
MILAN – The Italian data protection authority said on Friday that it was imposing an immediate block on TikTok’s access to the data of any user whose age has not been verified.
The authority said it was acting “urgently” after the death of a ten-year-old girl in Sicily, who died while participating in a challenge called “off” while using the Chinese-owned video-sharing social network.
Sicilian prosecutors are investigating the case.
The data protection authority noted that in December it had reported TikTok of a number of breaches, including poor attention to child protection, the ease with which users under the age of 13 could register on the platform, against its own rules, the lack of transparency in the information given to users and in the use of automatic settings that did not respect privacy.
“While waiting to receive a response, the authority decided to take steps to ensure the immediate protection of minors in Italy registered on the network,” the authority said in a statement.
The block will remain in force at least until February 15, when further evaluations will be conducted.
TikTok earlier this month launched some enhanced privacy features for users under 18, including a new default private setting for accounts with users ages 13-15. ask TikTok and other social media services to reveal how their practices affect children and teens.