{"id":24285,"date":"2021-05-13T05:40:45","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T05:40:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/tiktok-removes-500k-accounts-in-italy-after-dpa-order-to-block-underage-users.html"},"modified":"2021-05-13T05:40:45","modified_gmt":"2021-05-13T05:40:45","slug":"tiktok-removes-500k-accounts-in-italy-after-dpa-order-to-block-underage-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/tiktok-removes-500k-accounts-in-italy-after-dpa-order-to-block-underage-users.html","title":{"rendered":"TikTok removes 500k+ accounts in Italy after DPA order to block underage users"},"content":{"rendered":"

Video sharing social network TikTok has removed more than 500,000 accounts in Italy following an intervention by the country\u2019s data protection watchdog earlier this year<\/a> ordering it to recheck the age of all Italian users and block access to any under the age of 13.<\/p>\n

Between February 9 and April 21 more than 12.5M Italian users were asked to confirm that they are over 13 years old, according to the regulator.<\/p>\n

Online age verification remains a hard problem and it\u2019s not clear how many of the removed accounts definitively belonged to under 13s. The regulator said<\/a> today that TikTok removed over 500k users because they were \u201clikely\u201d to be under the age of 16; around 400,000 because they declared an age under 13 and 140,000 through what the DPA describes as \u201ca combination of moderation and reporting tools\u201d implemented within the app.<\/p>\n

TikTok has also agreed to take a series of additional measures to strengthen its ability to detect and block underage users \u2014 including potentially developing AI tools to help it identify when children are using the service.<\/p>\n

Reached for comment, TikTok sent us a statement confirming that it is trialling \u201cadditional measures to help ensure that only users aged 13 or over are able to use TikTok\u201d.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the statement, which TikTok attributed to Alexandra Evans, its head of child safety in Europe:<\/p>\n

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\u201cTikTok\u2019s top priority is protecting the privacy and safety of our users, and in particular our younger users. Following continued engagement with the Garante, we will be trialling additional measures to help ensure that only users aged 13 or over are able to use TikTok.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe already take industry-leading steps to promote youth safety on TikTok such as setting accounts to private by default for users aged under 16 and enabling parents to link their account to their teen\u2019s through Family Pairing. There is no finish line when it comes to safety, and we continue to evaluate and improve our policies, processes and systems, and consult with external experts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Italy\u2019s data protection regulator made an emergency intervention in January<\/a> \u2014 ordering TikTok to recheck the age of all users and block any users whose age it could not verify. The action followed reports in local media about a 10-year-old girl from Palermo who died of asphyxiation after participating in a \u201cblackout challenge\u201d on the social network.<\/p>\n

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TikTok will recheck the age of every user in Italy after DPA order<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Among the beefed up measures TikTok has agreed to take is a commitment to act faster to remove underage users \u2014 with the Italian DPA saying the platform has guaranteed it will cancel reported accounts it verifies as belonging to under 13s within 48 hours.<\/p>\n

The regulator said TikTok has also committed to \u201cstudy and develop\u201d solutions \u2014 which may include the use of artificial intelligence \u2014 to \u201cminimize the risk of children under 13 using the service\u201d.<\/p>\n

TikTok has also agree to launch ad campaigns, both in app and through radio and newspapers in Italy, to raise awareness about safe use of the platform and get the message out that it is not suitable for under-12s \u2014 including targeting this messaging in a language and format that\u2019s likely to engage underage minors themselves.<\/p>\n

The social network has also agreed to share information with the regulator relating to the effectiveness of the various experimental measures \u2014 to work with the regulator to identify the best ways of keeping underage users off the service.<\/p>\n

The DPA said it will continue to monitor TikTok\u2019s compliance with its commitments.<\/p>\n

Prior to the Garante\u2019s action, TikTok\u2019s age verification checks had been widely criticized as trivially easier for kids to circumvent \u2014 with children merely needing to input a false birth date that suggested they are older than 13 to circumvent the age gate and access the service.<\/p>\n

A wider investigation that the DPA opened into TikTok\u2019s handling and processing of children\u2019s data last year remains ongoing.<\/p>\n

The regulator announced it had begun proceedings against the platform in December 2020, following months of investigation, saying then that it believed TikTok was not complying with EU data protection rules which set stringent requirements for processing children\u2019s data.<\/p>\n

In January<\/a> the Garante also called for the European Data Protection Board to set up an EU taskforce to investigate concerns about the risks of children\u2019s use of the platform \u2014 highlighting similar concerns being raised by other agencies in Europe and the U.S.<\/p>\n

In February<\/a> the European consumer rights organization, BEUC, also filed a series of complaints against TikTok, including in relation to its handling of kids\u2019 data.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year TikTok announced plans to bring in outside experts in the region<\/a> to help with content moderation and said it would open a \u2018transparency\u2019 center in Europe<\/a> where outside experts could get information on its content, security and privacy policies.<\/p>\n

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TikTok has until Friday to respond to Italy\u2019s order to block users it can\u2019t age-verify after girl\u2019s death<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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TikTok calls in outside help with content moderation in Europe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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TikTok hit with consumer, child safety and privacy complaints in Europe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/WSXNVM8s_rc\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Video sharing social network TikTok has removed more than 500,000 accounts in Italy following an intervention by the country\u2019s data protection watchdog earlier this year ordering it to recheck the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-24285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t