WASHINGTON : The TikTok, owned by ByteDance, told Reuters that the system follows a year-long pilot programme conducted in Europe. The technology analyses profile information, posted videos and behavioural signals to predict whether an account may belong to a user under the age of 13.
Accounts flagged by the system will not be automatically removed. Instead, they will be reviewed by specialist moderators, TikTok said, as part of a more measured approach to age enforcement.
The rollout comes amid intensified scrutiny by European authorities over how social media platforms verify users’ ages while complying with strict data-protection rules. Lawmakers have raised concerns that existing methods are either ineffective or excessively intrusive. The European Parliament has been pushing for stronger age limits on social media, while Denmark has proposed banning social media use for children under 15.
Outside Europe, Australia last year introduced the world’s first social media ban for children under 16. In the United Kingdom, a TikTok pilot reportedly led to the removal of thousands of additional accounts belonging to users under 13.
TikTok said there is still no globally agreed method to verify age while fully preserving user privacy. For appeals against account removals, the platform will rely on facial age-estimation technology from verification provider Yoti, alongside credit-card checks and government-issued identification. Meta also uses Yoti to verify ages on Facebook.
According to TikTok, the new system has been built specifically to meet European regulatory standards, with development carried out in consultation with Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, the company’s lead privacy regulator in the EU. European users will be notified as the technology is introduced.
In response to European regulatory pressure, TikTok will introduce an AI age-detection system to identify users under 13. The system, developed with input from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, will not automatically remove flagged accounts but will have them reviewed by moderators, ensuring compliance with data protection rules.