Brazil fines TikTok $30m for child data privacy violations | Internet News
Brazil Fines TikTok’s Parent Company for Data Privacy Violations
SAO PAULO — Brazil’s data protection authority has imposed a fine of nearly $30 million on ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, due to allegations of mishandling personal data belonging to children and teenagers. This enforcement action reflects the ongoing scrutiny of social media companies in Brazil.
The regulatory body stated in its ruling that TikTok violated data privacy laws by improperly collecting and processing minors’ personal information without a legitimate legal basis or sufficient safeguards. The authority estimates that the platform may have processed data for at least 8 million children, pointing to systemic flaws in TikTok’s age-verification mechanisms.
ByteDance has the right to appeal the decision within 10 days. In addition to the financial penalty, the ruling mandates that TikTok erase all data obtained illegally.
The regulatory authority further directed the company to develop a more robust youth protection framework. Concerns were raised regarding TikTok’s “logged-out feed,” which allows users to browse content without creating an account. This feature, which enables minors to use the platform without undergoing age verification, is accessible in Brazil but is restricted to registered users in the United States and Europe.
Earlier this month, Brazil’s regulator also ordered the social media platform Discord to suspend its livestreaming feature nationwide. This action followed an incident in which a 13-year-old girl died by suicide after being encouraged to harm herself during a livestream.
Discord, widely used by gamers since its launch in 2015, faces similar regulatory challenges as Brazil’s government, led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, seeks to implement stronger regulations concerning internet use by minors. As Brazil grapples with these issues, countries like Australia, Canada, and Indonesia are undertaking comparable efforts to protect young users online.
