The popular video app TikTok said on Wednesday it had agreed with Italian authorities to block all users who gave their age as under 13, among other measures, after the death of a 10-year-old girl was blamed on a breath-holding social media challenge.
Prosecutors in Palermo are investigating that case, which has led to increased scrutiny of children’s use of social media platforms.
Google suspends Parler social networking app from Play Store
TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, first gained popularity in Asia and now also has a big following in the West. It has become hugely popular among teenagers in Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Italian regulator said TikTok had agreed to block all accounts in Italy from February 9 and to readmit only users who provided a date of birth showing they were at least 13 years old.
TikTok makes all under-16s' accounts private
Alexandra Evans, Tiktok’s head of child safety in Europe, said it would also introduce a button into the app to enable members to report users who appeared to be under 13.
The regulator said TikTok had also agreed to evaluate using artificial intelligence to detect under-age accounts.
It will, however, have to discuss the proposal with the Irish privacy authority, which is the European Union’s lead data protection authority for Tik Tok because the firm has its European head office in Ireland.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ