If you thought that social media platforms are here to safeguard your privacy—think again. These days, it’s almost laughable to think that you have any form of privacy online. There are certain ways you can go about minimizing your risks. But ultimately, a lot of your information is out there. However, privacy for children is a different story. Young kids, unlike us silly adults, haven’t had the “pleasure” of willingly sharing all our personal details with platforms like Facebook, so they’re still relatively safe—or are they? That’s what regulators in the UK are trying to decide by launching an investigation into TikTok and Reddit.
Investigation over handling of data
UK data watchdog, Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), has announced that it is launching a “major investigation” into TikTok’s use of children’s personal information. This investigation will look into how the social media platform uses the data of children. This includes those aged 13 to 17 years old.
TikTok uses an algorithm that actively recommends content based on your interactions. When you watch a specific video or engage with it—by liking it or leaving comments—TikTok interprets that as your interest. As a result, the algorithm will show you more videos similar to the ones you engage with.
This is a great way to boost the time users spend on the platform. However, this is something John Edwards, the Information Commissioner, is concerned about. The UK investigation into TikTok will look into whether these data collection practices could lead to data being leaked. It will also look into whether it could cause kids to spend an unhealthy amount of time on the platform.
Not just TikTok, Reddit too
The investigation isn’t limited to just TikTok. The ICO’s investigation will also look into other platforms, such as Reddit and Imgur. It wants to determine if these platforms check the ages of the users and how they enforce it.
Speaking to the BBC, Edwards said, “I don’t want to pre-judge how we might look at the Imgur and Reddit matters, but if there are age limits for accessing services, then the platforms have to enforce those in some ways. There are a number of different technologies and techniques that are available, I would say, and the degree of rigor, I think, depends in part upon the kinds of risks, the likelihood that children will be accessing those sites.”
That being said, neither TikTok, Reddit, or Imgur are in any kind of trouble yet. These investigations do not indicate that these platforms have broken the law. However, if the results of the investigations found that these websites have violated local law and regulations, they could be subject to fines.
2025-03-03 15:06:48