TikTok’s Troubling Transparency: Canada Finds Privacy Failures
Canada’s privacy watchdog has found that TikTok failed to adequately protect children’s personal data and collected vast amounts of sensitive information from them. Federal Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne disclosed the findings at a press conference on Tuesday, according to a Reuters report.
The joint investigation included privacy commissioners from Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta. They revealed that, contrary to TikTok’s claims, hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 13 use the platform annually in Canada. The information collected was used to target children with content and advertisements, which, they warned, could negatively affect their mental health.
Following the release of the investigation’s findings, TikTok pledged to strengthen age verification methods and to clearly inform users—particularly minors—about how their data may be used. The company also agreed to halt targeted advertising for users under 18 and to expand privacy-related information for Canadian users.
TikTok stated that while it does not agree with certain aspects of the investigation, it remains “committed to transparency and protecting privacy” on its platform.
Meanwhile, beyond Canada, both the European Union and the United States have already banned TikTok from government devices due to security concerns.
