TikTok Planning to Tighten Up Age Checks in Europe

Photo Credit: Rod Long

TikTok plans to roll out its new age-detection system across Europe in the coming weeks amid heightened scrutiny over child safety issues.

After testing its new age-detection system in Britain over the last year, TikTok will start rolling out the tech across Europe in the next few weeks, according to a new report from Reuters. The move comes amid increased regulatory scrutiny of the social video platform and its owner ByteDance, especially pertaining to the online safety of children.

The new system predicts whether an account may be under the age of 13 based on analyzed profile information, posted videos, and other “behavioral signals.” Accounts flagged by the system will be reviewed by a team of specialist moderators, rather than being banned outright.

Users will be notified as the technology launches across Europe, TikTok confirmed. Per TikTok policy, users must be at least 13 years of age to sign up for the platform.

It’s a move to help assuage the concerns of lawmakers in Europe as authorities investigate claims that current methods employed by social media platforms are either ineffective or overly invasive.

The European Parliament is currently pushing for age limits on social media; Denmark wants to ban social media for those aged under 15. Last year, Australia became the first country in the world to ban children under 16 from social media platforms.

According to TikTok, the new age-detection system was built specifically for Europe in order to comply with its stricter regulatory requirements. The company worked alongside the lead EU privacy regulator, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, while developing the technology.

However, whether TikTok’s method will work as well as intended remains to be seen. Other online spaces, such as the gaming platform Roblox, have had to contend with users uncovering workarounds to bypass the platform’s age verification system. In some cases, this has been as easy as drawing facial hair on a user’s picture with a marker.

TikTok’s version will undoubtedly have its share of false positives, so it will be interesting to see how effective it will be once it rolls out across Europe.