Privacy Commissioners find TikTok collected sensitive data from children | Hacker News Reader

Privacy Commissioners find TikTok collected sensitive data from children

priv.gc.ca

83 points_p2zi23 comments

I hope they will apply the same standard to other social media companies.

And while they're at it, they should take a look at the data that Google collects from kids using Chrome and Chromebooks.

> I hope they will apply the same standard to other social media companies.

So a weak fine that is rolled into cost of doing business expense? AKA nothing.

They can't fine at the OPC, they can't even force action. Though sometimes that is a good thing as it opened up some room for class actions, in Ontario at least.

Sure, but that's missing the point. Nothing will be the result. So in this case, somebody won't be lining their pockets with a nothing burger fine. So less than nothing is the result.

Google's claims in this area seem simple and strong. What are you suggesting?

"Google will only access, use, and otherwise process Customer Data in accordance with the Cloud Data Processing Addendum and will not access, use, or process Customer Data for any other purpose. Without limiting the generality of the preceding sentence, Google will not process Customer Data for Advertising purposes or serve Advertising in the Services. Google has implemented and will maintain technical, organizational, and physical safeguards to protect Customer Data, as further described in the Cloud Data Processing Addendum."

I read this earlier this year:

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/google-hit-with-pri...

But I'm certain there were more similar suits in the USA. I don't think there's been one in Canada.

I don't know if you already knew this but in America anyone can file a complaint that says just about anything. Here, to balance out your link, is the other party's reply. https://edtech.law/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025.07.14-Goo...

I wish that the collection of data were toxic just in case you accidentally collect the data of a child. I’d happily let chrome think i were a six year old if it meant they wouldn’t abuse their market position to steal user data.

I hope that this is used to strengthen privacy laws. But I know this will be used as pretext to enforce dubious "age verification" like we've seen in other countries.

Chat control

It was hilarious how fast UK changed “online safety act” to <insert liocense fer ‘at joke>.

Just send your face and details to anonymous companies prone to data leaks just to hear songs with naughty words! See Spotify is too dangerous for children!

Post anything about the issues with immigration in the UK? That is straight to jail territory now, and they know just where to find you.

I’m not joking. I want to know what happened to the people that created the British empire. What was at one point the most wealthy and successful nation on the planet. Where are those people?

They all emigrated to the USA

Where'd they go next, because the USofA is leading the charge

Don't underestimate the power of this decision. Canada has been at the forefront of many internet/privacy polices over the last thirty years. Countries all over the world are dealing with similar questions. So they form committees to figure out policy, committees which boil down to people. Those people say, well, if it good enough for Canada then its probably good enough for us too.

Some of this is based on Canada's political/judicial system being more similar to international norms. Canada doesn't have the strange state/federal split of the US. Nor does it have the unwritten "constitution" of the UK. So European/Asian countries can more easily translate Canadian policy this into their systems. The IT companies appreciate this too. They will want to strike a deal in Canada because that deal will very likely be mirrored elsewhere. This finding and resulting deals will have great impact.

What kind of "sensitive data"? The page does not provide any details. Something as basic as an IP address could be considered "sensitive data" but collecting that is basically inevitable.

Check this out: https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/news-and-announcements/20...

I read this link with sadness. We all know that we can't trust any online social media with anything. But to store children's data in below the bar. (Oh, wait, these companies believe the bar is whatever they want it to be.)

It's clear every site on the internet without id checks (and even those who do check id since people can lie) are accessed by minors, I'm not sure what they expect.

They are collecting this data in order to use it for advertising. Google, Meta, and TikTok know a crazy amount about the people they are tracking. There’s no way they don’t know (or couldn’t make a great guess) about the age.

this stuff is always pushed by people with either no technical understanding at all or just bad intentions

Not sure why this was marked dead when it's not wrong. The people in Congress/Parliament are not the most tech savvy people, and pretty much just do what their lobbyists recommend even if they don't understand the full implications.

Soon Oracle will be collecting private information from children.

Gross and appropriate.

No shit.

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