Information Commissioner’s Office keen to see how social media and video-sharing platforms protect the privacy of children in the UK who use their services
The ICO has announced three new investigations into the ways particular social media and video-sharing platforms use the personal information of children who access them.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema / Unsplash
This includes an investigation into how TikTok uses personal information of 13–17-year-olds in the UK to make recommendations to them and deliver suggested content to their feeds. There have been mounting concerns that young people are served inappropriate or even harmful content by some platforms.
Meanwhile, the ICO is also keen to see how Imgur and Reddit will use UK children’s personal information and incorporate age-assurance measures, in line with the Children’s code that came into force in 201.
Age assurance of course plays a key role in ensuring the safety of children and their personal information online. A range of tools and approaches can be deployed to estimate or verify a child’s age. Services can then be tailored to their needs and, where necessary, access can be restricted.
The ICO will investigate whether have been any infringements of data protection legislation. If sufficient evidence is found that the companies have broken the law, the ICO will put that to the company, enabling them to respond before a final conclusion is made.
The three new investigations are part of the ICO’s wider efforts to ensure that tech companies design digital services that protect children. In the past year, X has stopped serving advertisements to users under the age of 18 and incorporated a number of other safety measures. BeReal, Dailymotion, Sendit and Viber have also made changes to ensure greater safety for children and young people online.
The ICO is also working closely with regulator Ofcom, which has responsibility for enforcing measures in the new Online Safety Act.
John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, says: ‘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. The responsibility to keep children safe online lies firmly at the door of the companies offering these services and my office is steadfast in its commitment to hold them to account.
‘I also want to take this opportunity to assure children, parents and carers in the UK that we are working on their behalf to make the online world a safer place. In announcing these investigations, we are making it clear to the public what action we are currently taking to ensure children’s information rights are upheld. This is a priority area, and we will provide updates about any further action we decide to take.’
For more, see the recent post ‘Protecting children’s data in a digital world’ by Emily Keaney, Deputy Commissioner for Regulatory Policy at the ICO.
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