Italy's data protection authority, Garante Privacy, said it has blocked Chinese video-sharing app TikTok for users in Italy whose age it could not verify following the accidental death by asphyxiation of a 10-year-old girl who allegedly took part in a social media challenge. The girl’s parents said she had been participating in a so-called ‘blackout challenge’ on TikTok while recording herself on her phone. Prosecutors in Palermo have seized the girl’s phone and opened an investigation into possible incitement to suicide.
In its decision, the watchdog said it was imposing the limitation with immediate effect “with regard to the data of users whose age could not be established with certainty”. Last month, Garante Privacy warned TikTok about a series of breaches, including its “poor attention to the protection of minors, the easy dodging of the registration ban the company applies to children under 13 years, non-transparent and unclear information provided to users, and default settings falling short of privacy requirements.”
It said the limitation order would be brought to the attention of Irish authorities, since TikTok owner ByteDance recently announced that it had set up EU operations for the app in Ireland. In a statement, TikTok said the safety of its users was its “absolute priority” and that it did not permit “any content that encourages, promotes or glorifies behaviour that could be dangerous.”
