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OTTAWA — A joint investigation by Canada’s privacy watchdog and three provincial counterparts has found TikTok failed to adequately protect children’s personal information, raising concerns about how the popular social media platform collects and uses data.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne, along with commissioners from Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta, concluded that TikTok’s age restrictions and consent practices did not meet the requirements of Canadian privacy law.
“TikTok is one of the most prevalent social media applications used in Canada, and it is collecting vast amounts of personal information about its users, including a large number of Canadian children,” Dufresne said Tuesday. “The investigation has revealed that personal data profiles of youth, including children, are used at times to target advertising content directly to them, which can have harmful impacts on their well-being.”
The company’s terms of service prohibit anyone under 13 from using the app, but the investigation found hundreds of thousands of Canadian children access the platform each year. Quebec commissioner Lise Girard said the numbers speak for themselves.
“In Quebec, 40 per cent of young people aged six to 17 have a TikTok account,” she said. “Among six- to 12-year-olds, the proportion is 17 per cent. There is no doubt that the company can and must do more to protect them.”
British Columbia commissioner Michael Harvey said the scale of underage use underscores the stakes.
“Every minute of every day, on average, a child in Canada is banned from TikTok for being underage,” Harvey said. “That is half a million accounts belonging to children who should never have been on the platform in the first place, whose personal information was collected and used in ways they could not meaningfully understand or consent to.”
Alberta commissioner Diane McLeod stressed that the risks to children go beyond privacy alone.
“They are more likely to see video content that is not age-appropriate. They are more likely to receive targeted ads that normalize gambling, increase identity theft, hinder healthy development, foster negative body images or early sexualization, or reinforce gender stereotypes,” she said.
In response to the findings, TikTok has agreed to improve age-assurance methods, expand privacy communications in both English and French, and provide more clarity to users about how their data is used. The company also made changes during the investigation, including ending targeted advertising for users under 18 except by broad categories such as language and location.
Dufresne said the outcome highlights the need for companies to put children’s best interests at the centre of design. “As technology plays an increasingly central role in the lives of young people in Canada, we must put their best interests at the forefront so that they are enabled to safely navigate the digital world,” he said.
The commissioners said they will continue monitoring TikTok’s progress in implementing the recommendations.
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