Joint investigation into TikTok highlights privacy concerns related to the collection and use of children’s personal information
September 23, 2025 – Ottawa, ON
A joint investigation into TikTok by Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne and provincial counterparts in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta has found that the measures in place to keep children off the popular video-sharing platform and to prevent the collection and use of their sensitive personal information for profiling and targeting purposes were inadequate.
Even though the company has stated that its platform is not intended for people under the age of 13, the investigation found that hundreds of thousands of Canadian children access TikTok’s platform each year – and that TikTok has been collecting and using their personal information.
Online marketing practices and content targeting can have significant impacts on children’s well-being.
Although the joint investigation was focused on children, it also found that TikTok did not adequately explain its data practices to teen and adult users, nor did it obtain meaningful consent for the collection and use of vast amounts of user data, including sensitive data of younger users, as required under Canadian privacy laws.
In response to the Offices’ findings and recommendations, TikTok has agreed to strengthen privacy communications to ensure that users, and in particular younger users, understand how their data could be used, including for targeted advertising and content personalization.
In addition, TikTok has also agreed to:
enhance age-assurance methods to keep underage users off TikTok; and
provide more privacy information in French.
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