The UK has launched an investigation into TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur on how they handle the personal information of children.
In a notice released on 3 March, the Information commissioner’s office (ICO) announced it will investigate how TikTok uses 13–17-year-olds’ personal information to make recommendations to them, as well as how Reddit and Imgur assess the age of their child UK users.
An intervention
TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur are three of the social media and video sharing platforms that people under 18 years of age can use as well as adults.
Because the algorithms of these platforms feed users information and content based on their activities, there is a chance that they may be repeatedly exposing minors to content that is harmful to them, hence the need to protect them.
The investigation is part of the government’s efforts to ensure companies are designing digital services that protect children and to see if there have been any infringements of data protection legislation.
John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner said:
“We welcome the technology and innovation that companies like social media bring to the UK and want them to thrive in our economy. But this cannot be at the expense of children’s privacy. 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.
If the commission finds sufficient evidence that any of these companies have broken the law, they will be notified and allowed to respond before reaching a final conclusion, the notice said.
Previous actions
The ICO has succeeded in driving several actions in the past to protect child users of social media platforms.
One of its achievements is getting X to stop serving adverts to users under 18, removing geolocation sharing for minors, improving the public transparency materials available for under 18s, and creating a dedicated help centre for child users and parents.
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