Federal and provincial privacy authorities say a joint investigation found TikTok's efforts to keep children off the platform and prevent the collection and use of their sensitive personal information were 'inadequate'.
The Canadian Press
A joint investigation by federal and provincial privacy authorities has found that TikTok’s efforts to keep Canadian children off its app, and to obtain meaningful consent to collect vast amounts of sensitive personal information, were “inadequate.”
According to the report released Tuesday, TikTok contravened the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act – the federal law that oversees how private sector companies collect and use personal information. For example, the app failed to adequately explain its collection and use of users’ biometric information.
Investigators also concluded the app did not have enough guardrails in place to stop minors from creating profiles.
Although TikTok forbids users under the age of 13 in most of Canada, and 14 in Quebec, from using the platform, the investigation found that hundreds of thousands of Canadian children under the age of 13 were able to access the app. It also found that TikTok collected and used their personal data for targeting ads and recommending content. TikTok removes around 500,000 underage users from the platform each year in Canada.
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The probe was launched in 2023 by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and its provincial counterparts in Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta.
“TikTok collects vast amounts of personal information about its users, including children. This data is being used to target the content and ads that users see, which can have harmful impacts, particularly on youth,” said Philippe Dufresne, privacy commissioner of Canada, in a news conference Tuesday.
Michael Harvey, the information and privacy commissioner for B.C., said he was struck by how TikTok used elaborate biometric information, such as facial and voice analytics, to infer age and gender information about users for tailored ads. “Obviously that is super sensitive when it comes to children and youth, but we don’t think that even adults had a reasonable expectation that this was happening,” he said.
In response to the investigation’s findings, TikTok has agreed to improve age-gating methods to keep underage users off the app and to improve how it communicates its privacy and data policy, particularly to younger users.
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In an e-mailed statement, Danielle Morgan, a TikTok spokesperson said, “We welcome the conclusion of this investigation after working openly and constructively with the Privacy Commissioners, and are pleased they agreed to a number of our proposals to further strengthen our platform for Canadians. While we disagree with some of the findings, we remain committed to maintaining strong transparency and privacy practices.”
Mr. Dufresne said TikTok made some changes to its privacy practices during the investigation, including prohibiting advertisers from targeting individual users under the age of 18, except based on generic categories such as language and approximate location.
The investigators said they were satisfied with TikTok’s commitments so far and will continue to monitor if the app complies with the privacy watchdogs’ recommendations.
Matt Malone, the director of the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, described the investigators’ findings as “flaccid” and said Canada’s privacy laws need to be updated so that the onus for ethical data collection is on the corporation, not the individual user.
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“The outcome amounts to the wolf guarding the hen house because all we’ve done is allow TikTok to maintain its complete control over the collection, use and disclosure of very sensitive information,” Mr. Malone said. “We need system change. We need to really raise the threshold for data collection. We need serious protections for minors and children.”
Last November, the federal government ordered TikTok to wind down its Canadian business, including its office in Toronto, after a national security review of ByteDance, the app’s Beijing-based parent company. Canadians would still be able to access TikTok in the country.
In response, TikTok has filed a legal challenge arguing the government’s decision should be overturned. While the offices still remain open, the company has discontinued funding for some Canadian arts festivals.
This week U.S. President Donald Trump said he was close to signing a deal with China regarding the sale of TikTok’s American operations, the latest in a years-long saga to comply with a U.S. law that requires ByteDance to divest or face a ban in the U.S.
Under the current terms of the proposal, ByteDance would own less than 20 per cent of the business and a new U.S. joint venture would run a licensed copy of TikTok’s algorithm. Oracle would run the U.S. cloud computing infrastructure to store user data. China has not confirmed whether it has approved the deal.