A 12-year-old girl hopes to take legal action against TikTok for distributing a video, claiming the company uses children's data illegally.
A court has ruled that the girl could remain anonymous if the case continues.
The move is being backed by Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England. She believes TikTok has broken data protection laws in the UK and EU.
TikTok said it had "strong policies" to protect children and did not allow children under the age of 13 to join the platform.
Ms Longfield hopes the case will lead to greater safeguards for children under the age of 16 using TikTok in the UK and beyond.
She believes the app collects and processes children’s data to supply them with video, based on the algorithms it has. So they get the attention of these "little" viewers and generate advertising revenue.
The commissioner told the High Court in London that she hoped to issue an order, forcing the firm to delete the children's records.
However, the focus of the pre-trial hearing was to decide whether the 12-year-old girl could make a claim anonymously or not.
Mr Justice Warby ruled that the girl risked being harassed online by other children and TikTok users if her identity was revealed.
He said she could face "hostile reactions from social media influencers, who may feel their status or income is under threat".
In 2019, TikTok was fined $ 5.7 million by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for handling child data.
In a statement, TikTok said:
"Privacy and security are key priorities for TikTok and we have strong policies, processes and technologies in place to protect all users, and our youngest users in particular. We are aware of the Supreme Court ruling and are currently examining the implications. his."
The Terms & Conditions of the application indicate that the service is not available to people under 13 years of age and all users are required to register at the age.
The profiles are then actively reviewed and accounts removed that appear to be used by children under 13 years of age.
Source: BBC
