TikTok, Imgur, and Reddit are being investigated by a U.K. watchdog over whether its algorithms serve inappropriate or harmful content to children.
On Monday, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the U.K.’s privacy watchdog, launched an investigation into how TikTok, Reddit, and image-sharing website Imgur use the personal information of teenage users.
The ICO wants to investigate how TikTok uses the personal information of 13 to 17-year-olds to deliver content recommendations to them.
Meanwhile, the investigations into Reddit and Imgur are focused on how they use children’s personal information and its use of age assurance measures, such as how they estimate or verify a child’s age, which can then be used to tailor their experience on the platform.
The U.K. regulator is taking action amid growing concerns about how social media platforms use data generated by children’s online activity in their recommendation algorithms — and the potential for young people to be served harmful or inappropriate content as a result.
Social media platforms use complex algorithms to curate content and maintain user engagement. However, by amplifying similar types of content, these systems can expose children to growing amounts of potentially harmful material.
The ICO introduced a children’s code for online privacy in 2021, which requires companies to take steps to protect children’s personal information online. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are required to “tame” their algorithms to filter out or downgrade harmful material to help protect children under proposed British measures.
“If we find there is sufficient evidence that any of these companies have broken the law, we will put this to them and obtain their representations before reaching a final conclusion,” the Information Commissioner’s Office says in a statement to Reuters.
The ICO’s investigation comes after multiple U.S. states have sued TikTok over claims that the video app is designed to be addictive to kids and harms their mental health last year.
Over a dozen U.S. states and Washington D.C. have filed lawsuits against TikTok regarding the app’s effect on teens and other young users. The 13 states, which include New York and California, allege that the company is damaging children’s mental health with a product designed to be used compulsively and excessively.
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