The UK’s privacy watchdog has announced a “major investigation” into the child protection measures of three popular apps: TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said that it has previously succeeded in bringing about child protection changes on X, Sendit, BeReal, Daily Motion, and Viber …
The ICO is looking at both age verification processes, and whether the apps break the law in the way they use the personal data of children.
We are today announcing three investigations looking into how TikTok, Reddit and Imgur protect the privacy of their child users in the UK.
Our investigation into TikTok is considering how the platform uses personal information of 13–17-year-olds in the UK to make recommendations to them and deliver suggested content to their feeds […]
Our investigations into Imgur and Reddit are considering how the platforms use UK children’s personal information and their use of age assurance measures. Age assurance plays an important role in keeping children, and their personal information, safe online. There are tools or approaches that can help estimate or verify a child’s age, which then allow services to be tailored to their needs or access to be restricted.
The organization said it had last year required a number of other apps to improve the protections offered to users under the age of 18.
- X has stopped serving adverts to users under 18; removed the ability for under 18s to opt in to geolocation sharing; improved the public transparency materials available for under 18s; and created a dedicated help centre for child users and parents.
- Sendit has stopped automatically including geolocation information in children’s profiles, while BeReal has stopped allowing children to post their precise location online. These changes can help keep children safer in the physical world.
- Dailymotion has implemented new privacy and transparency measures encouraging children not to share personal information.
- Viber has committed to turn off personalised advertising for children, ensuring that children’s default advertising experience is not based on their behavioural data or profiles.
In addition to similar privacy protections to the EU, UK law also requires apps and online platforms to minimize the personal data collected from children, and to apply additional privacy measures when processing it.
BBC News has brief statements from TikTok and Reddit, while Imgur had not responded at the time of writing.
TikTok told the BBC its recommender systems operated under “strict and comprehensive measures that protect the privacy and safety of teens” […]
A Reddit spokesperson told the BBC that 95% of their users are adults but that they “have plans to roll out changes this year that address updates to UK regulations around age assurance”.
Photo by Ralph Olazo on Unsplash
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