As concerns over the impact of social media on young users continue to grow, TikTok has announced the rollout of a new age verification system across the European Union. The ByteDance-owned platform, along with other major platforms popular with young people such as YouTube, are under increasing pressure to better identify and remove accounts belonging to children.
The new system, which has been quietly piloted in the EU over the past year, analyses profile information, posted videos and behavioural signals to predict whether an account may belong to a user under the age of 13. In addition to examining the information the account holder provides about themselves, the technology looks at behaviours such as the videos a user publishes and other on-platform activity.
Accounts flagged by the system will be reviewed by specialist moderators rather than face an automatic ban, and users will have the opportunity to appeal against the removal of an account if an error has been made. Options for age identification offered by TikTok during the appeal process include facial age estimation by the verification company Yoti, credit card authorisation or government-approved identification.
The European pilot led to the removal of thousands of accounts, and the rollout of the system comes as European authorities scrutinise how platforms verify users’ ages under data protection rules. TikTok has stated that its system complies with data and privacy laws, with the company emphasising that “the prediction of the likelihood that someone is under the age of 13 is not used for purposes other than to decide whether to send an account to human moderators and to monitor and improve the technology.”
The move by TikTok to strengthen its age-verification technology across the EU comes as calls grow for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s in countries including the UK. Earlier this week, UK Labour leader Keir Starmer told MPs he was open to a social media ban for young people, expressing concern over the amount of time children and teenagers were spending on their smartphones.
With the European Parliament pushing for age limits on social media and Denmark seeking to ban social media for those under 15, TikTok’s new system represents a proactive step in addressing the growing concerns around the protection of young users online.