Bob Mackin
During a joint investigation by four Canadian privacy commissioners, TikTok admitted that various affiliate companies and their employees in China can access personal information for business purposes.
“TikTok advised that to gain access to the personal information of individuals located outside of China, China-based employees must go through an internal approvals process overseen by individuals outside of China,” said a Sept. 23-released report. “Access may then be audited to ensure that the use of information is consistent with the purposes for which access was approved and that the access is still required for those purposes.”
Magnet for children
(TikTok/Douyin)
Federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne and commissioners in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec found TikTok failed to keep Canadian children off its platform and collected vast amounts of personal information, including information considered sensitive.
“The investigation uncovered that TikTok removes approximately 500,000 underage users from the platform each year,” said the report. “Where these children were engaging with the platform before being removed, TikTok was already collecting, inferring and using information about them to serve them targeted ads and recommend tailored content to them.”
Face, voice recognition
TikTok was caught using biometric information via facial and vocal analytics. It did not adequately explain to users that their data would be used to infer age and gender for the delivery of tailored ads and recommended content.
Privacy gaps
The investigation also found the company’s privacy policy was deficient.
“While TikTok requires users to expressly accept its terms and conditions and privacy policy during account sign-up, we found that such consent — vis-à-vis TikTok’s practices related to tracking, profiling, targeting and content personalization — was not valid or meaningful.”
Recommendations
The report said TikTok agreed to beef-up its age assurance and privacy policy, cease allowing advertisers to target users under-18, publish a plain language privacy summary for teens and enhance communications about use of biometrics and data processing in China.
In November 2024, the federal cabinet ordered TikTok to wind-up Canadian operations for national security reasons. However, the app was not banned from Canada and TikTok has applied for a judicial review in Federal Court.
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