Brazil's data protection authority has fined TikTok's parent company ByteDance nearly $30 million for the alleged mishandling of children's and teenagers' personal data, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
The regulatory body ruled that TikTok breached data privacy laws across both logged-in accounts and guest browsing sessions by collecting and processing young users' personal information without a valid legal basis or adequate safeguards. The authority estimated that TikTok may have processed the data of at least 8 million children, citing what it called systemic deficiencies in the platform's age-verification mechanism.
The ruling orders TikTok to erase all data collected illegally and to develop an improved youth-protection framework. Regulators specifically called out TikTok's logged-out feed, which allows users to browse content without creating an account, as a way that minors can access the platform while bypassing age-verification checks. The regulator noted that this feature is available in Brazil but not in the United States or Europe, where access is restricted to registered users only.
TikTok has 10 days to appeal the decision.
The fine is part of a broader crackdown on social media companies by Brazil's government under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Earlier this month, the country's regulatory authority ordered Discord to suspend its livestreaming feature in Brazil after a 13-year-old girl died by suicide following a livestream in which authorities say she was encouraged to harm herself.
Brazil is among several countries attempting to regulate internet use by minors. Australia, Canada, and Indonesia have undertaken similar efforts, with mixed results so far.