Brazil fines TikTok owner ByteDance for mishandling children’s data

Brazil’s data protection authority ANPD has fined TikTok owner ByteDance about $29.8 million for processing the personal data of children and teenagers without sufficient legal grounds and failing to take adequate measures to prevent it.

The authority said on Tuesday that the allegations cover both unregistered use of the short-video platform and registered accounts, and found five violations of Brazil’s data protection law.

In addition to the fine, ByteDance must delete data collected unlawfully and implement a plan to strengthen protections for children and teenagers. Users under 16 will be subject to stricter privacy settings, while parental controls and safeguards against inappropriate content must also be improved.

For unregistered users, advertising and direct messages will be disabled and content personalization restricted. ByteDance has 10 working days to appeal the decision.

TikTok is one of Brazil’s most widely used social networks and has also faced scrutiny over child protection in other countries. The European Commission has accused the platform of failing to adequately protect minors from risks including cyberbullying. In the United States, TikTok agreed days ago to pay $400 million to settle allegations that it collected children’s data without parental consent.