The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has launched an investigation into TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur over concerns regarding how these platforms handle children's personal data and whether their algorithms expose young users to harmful content. The probe, announced Monday, will examine TikTok's data collection and content recommendation system for users aged 13 to 17, as well as the age verification practices used by Reddit and Imgur.
"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 ICO said in a statement.
The regulatory action comes amid growing concerns about the impact of social media algorithms on children. Platforms such as TikTok use engagement-driven algorithms to populate content feeds, a practice that can lead to young users being exposed to potentially harmful material. Studies have previously shown that TikTok's For You Page has recommended eating disorder and self-harm content to teenage users within minutes of their activity on the platform.
In response to the investigation, a Reddit spokesperson told Reuters that the company is working closely with the ICO and plans to comply with updated UK regulations. "Most of our users are adults, but we have plans to roll out changes this year that address updates to UK regulations around age assurance," the spokesperson said.
TikTok, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, has faced scrutiny over its data policies before. In 2023, the ICO fined TikTok £12.7 million ($16 million) for breaching data protection laws, including processing the personal data of children under 13 without parental consent. The company has yet to respond to the latest investigation.
John Edwards, the UK's Information Commissioner, emphasized that the ICO's goal is to ensure platforms are "sufficiently robust to prevent children being exposed to harm, either from addictive practices on the device or the platform, or from content that they see, or from other unhealthy practices."
The UK government has already implemented stricter regulations on social media platforms, requiring them to enforce age limits and implement content moderation measures to prevent minors from accessing harmful material. Last year, the government proposed further rules that would require platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram to adjust their algorithms to filter out potentially damaging content for young users.
Edwards dismissed the notion that TikTok was being unfairly singled out, saying, "We've got to choose one-we can't spread ourselves too thinly. We hope to learn lessons that the whole industry will be able to adopt."
