The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is investigating how TikTok, Reddit, and the image-sharing platform Imgur handle the data of underage users. 

The data protection regulator is looking into how TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company Bytedance, uses the personal information of users between the ages of 13 and 17 to make recommendations to them. 

The office will also probe how the US-based platforms Imgur and Reddit assess the age of their minor users in the UK.

“We welcome the technology and innovation that companies like social media bring to the UK and want them to thrive in our economy. But this cannot be at the expense of children’s privacy,” John Edwards, the UK information commissioner, said in a statement. 

“The responsibility to keep children safe online lies firmly at the door of the companies offering these services and my office is steadfast in its commitment to hold them to account,” he added, underlining the obligation of platforms to comply with data protection law.

Under English legislation, most online services must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which also applies in European Union countries, and to the Children’s code.

Therefore, personal data from users aged under 18 receives “specific protection,” and platforms must consider “the best interests of the child”.

Around 42 per cent of British parents feel they have little or no control over the information platforms collect about their children, according to a survey published by the ICO on Monday.

The Irish Data Protection Commission already fined TikTok €345 million in September 2023 for GDPR violations regarding its processing of children’s data.

The UK’s ICO also fined TikTok £12.7 million (€14.5 million) in April 2023 over misuse of children’s data.