TikTok to verify age of Italian users after tragedy
TikTok pledged to close the account of anyone who said they were under 13.
ROME (AFP) - TikTok has agreed to verify the age of all users in Italy, the country’s privacy watchdog said Wednesday, following concerns sparked by the death of a little girl.
"Starting from February 9 ... TikTok will block all Italian users and ask them to restate their age before continuing to use the app," the watchdog said in a statement.
TikTok pledged to close the account of anyone who said they were under 13, and to use "artificial intelligence systems" to verify the age of other users, the watchdog added.
TikTok, a video-sharing network owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny in Italy since the death last month of a 10-year-old girl who allegedly participated in an online choking game.
On January 22, after the case emerged, the privacy watchdog temporarily blocked access to TikTok users whose age could not be proved.
