TikTok has agreed to strengthen its privacy communication, specifically around young users, after a joint provincial-federal investigation found the app's current practices inadequate.
Federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne said TikTok is one of the most popular social media apps in Canada and the one that is most used by Canadian children and teens. He said the app collects "vast amounts of personal information about its users, including children," and that data is being used to target the content and ads that users see.
He said the app uses the information it collects, including biometric information to estimate users' age for its own business purposes.
"Our investigation found that the measures that TikTok had in place to keep children off the popular video-sharing platform and to prevent the collection and use of their sensitive and personal information for profiling and content-targeting purposes were inadequate."
He added children and teens may be less aware of privacy risks and more susceptible to the techniques used to capture their attention.
Dufresne released the information during a joint news conference in Ottawa Tuesday with his privacy commissioner counterparts from B.C., Alberta and Quebec. The investigation first began more than two years ago.
"TikTok must do more to keep underage children off its platform," he said, adding the company must better explain its data practices, especially to youth.
Following the investigation, TikTok agreed to strengthen its privacy communication to ensure users understand how their data could be used, including for targeted advertising and content personalization.
TikTok has also agreed to enhance age-assurance methods to keep underage users off TikTok and provide more privacy information in French.
The ultimate goal of the investigation was to create a safer, more transparent online environment for children.
Dufresne said there are still steps TikTok needs to take, but there is a timeline for that.
TikTok has said the app is not intended for people under the age of 13, but the investigation found that hundreds of thousands of Canadian children access the app each year.
While the investigation was focused on children using the app, it also found that TikTok "did not adequately explain its data practices to teen and adult users," reads a news release. It also didn't have meaningful consent for the collection and use of vast amounts of user data, including sensitive data of younger users, as required under Canadian privacy laws."
During the investigation, TikTok made some improvements to its privacy practices during the investigation, which included changes to effectively stopping allowing advertisers to target users under the age of 18, except based on broad categories such as language and approximate location.
B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael Harvey said his office's strategic plan over the next three years focuses heavily on children's privacy rights in digital spaces. He said this report highlights the situation his office is dealing with and why it's a priority.
"Every minute of every day a child in Canada is removed from TikTok because they are under 13 years of age. That's half a million accounts banned every year, belonging to children who should never have been on the platform."
Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod said children are being exposed to a "wide variety of risks and harms" on TikTok that "go beyond issues of privacy."
"Children on TikTok are likely to see video content that is not age appropriate. Children on TikTok are likely to receive targeted ads that normalize gambling."
McLeod said that's a concern raised by clinicians specializing in minor care.
