Brazil Fines TikTok Record $30 Million for Violating Children's Data Laws
Thestandard · 2 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago2 MIN
Summary
Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) imposed a record fine of 153.7 million reais (approximately US$30 million) on ByteDance on Tuesday for violations involving children's data on TikTok. The penalty marks the largest ever issued by the agency since its establishment in 2020. Investigators found that users downloading TikTok in Brazil could access personalized feeds immediately without declaring their age or accepting terms of service, in stark contrast to practices in the United States and Europe where logged-out access was restricted. ANPD enforcement director Fabricio Lopes described the fine as a "powerful signal" to other social media platforms regarding the agency's commitment to child safety enforcement. ByteDance has been given 10 working days to appeal the decision and 60 working days to erase the data of affected users aged 13 to 18.
Key Points
- ANPD found five breaches of Brazil's data protection law, including unauthorized processing of children's data for advertising purposes
- TikTok reportedly removed 7.75 million children's accounts in Brazil between October 2022 and September 2023, with 762,493 deleted in July 2023 alone
- The logged-out personalized feed was available in Brazil but barred in the United States and Europe, with investigators documenting the difference through screenshots
- Non-compliance with data deletion orders carries a daily fine exceeding US$26,000, and ByteDance must instruct all partners with the data to erase it as well
- ANPD has initiated proceedings to verify compliance by 22 social media platforms with the child protection law passed this year
Why It Matters
The record penalty underscores Brazil's escalating efforts to hold global tech platforms accountable for protecting minors online, with the ANPD signaling it can expect "much stronger enforcement action" in coming months. This regulatory pressure comes as TikTok also agreed to pay US$400 million to settle a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice last week over similar allegations of collecting children's personal data without parental consent, highlighting the platform's mounting legal challenges across multiple jurisdictions.
The record penalty underscores Brazil's escalating efforts to hold global tech platforms accountable for protecting minors online, with the ANPD signaling it can expect "much stronger enforcement action" in coming months. This regulatory pressure comes as TikTok also agreed to pay US$400 million to settle a lawsuit with the US Department of Justice last week over similar allegations of collecting children's personal data without parental consent, highlighting the platform's mounting legal challenges across multiple jurisdictions.