Brazil’s data protection authority has fined TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, nearly $30 million for allegedly mishandling the personal data of children and teenagers. The ruling marks Brazil’s latest regulatory action against social media platforms.

The authority stated that TikTok violated data privacy laws by collecting and processing young users’ information without a valid legal basis or sufficient safeguards. This breach occurred across both logged-in accounts and guest browsing sessions.

The regulator estimated that TikTok may have processed data from at least 8 million children, pointing to systemic deficiencies in the platform’s age-verification mechanism. Notably, the feature allowing guest browsing is available in Brazil but not in the United States or Europe, where access is limited to registered users.

This decision follows a tragic incident where a 13-year-old girl died by suicide after a livestream in which authorities say she was encouraged to harm herself.

ByteDance has the option to appeal the fine within the next 10 days, according to the regulator.

Additional Context from Brazil

  • Brazil’s president recently described Amazon oil as a “passport to the future.”
  • A bus crash in Parana state killed at least 23 people and injured five.
  • Brazil is advancing an AI supercomputer initiative balancing US and Chinese technology influences.

Sources