TikTok age checks: risks for privacy and discrimination
In the media
TikTok’s stricter age checks are a good move, says Bart Custers, Professor of Law and Data Science, in an opinion piece in ‘de Volkskrant’. But he warns of risks related to privacy and discrimination.
The Chinese social media platform TikTok is changing its policy and wants to track down and remove accounts of children under the age of 13. To do so, the platform will use a new method for age verification that is based on profile information. That sounds like good news, but according to Bart Custers, there are catches to this approach. To assess age reliably, a lot of privacy-sensitive information is needed.
Not only that, to properly distinguish between younger children, the company must process their data. 'After all, if you don't know how these two groups differ from each other, you can't distinguish them properly', Custers writes. 'So, the irony is that TikTok will have to process a lot of data from the most vulnerable children in order to be able to keep them off the platform.' Legally, this is only allowed with the consent of parents, but there is little chance that they will agree to it.
The professor also warns against margins of error and discrimination. 'Physical age is a clear criterion, but children develop socially and mentally at a different pace.' These kinds of differences can be greater in vulnerable groups, such as neurodivergent children. According to Custers, it is a positive development that TikTok is going to improve its monitoring of children’s age, but: 'TikTok would do well not to rely too heavily on technology and to leave room for a tailored approach.'
More information?
Read the full opinion piece in de Volkskrant (€, in Dutch)