TikTok Announces New Safety Measures and Data Security Initiatives for European Users

TikTok is partnering with NGOs across Europe to roll out an in-app integration that connects people who report potentially harmful or distressing content directly with mental health support and resources. This initiative aims to provide immediate help and support to users who may be affected by such content.

TikTok enforces age assurance through several methods:

• Having a neutral age gate without hinting or nudging towards the 'right' age.
• Placing restrictions on creating another account with a different date of birth if the initial age check fails.
• Using technology to detect accounts that may belong to someone under 13 and sending them to moderation for review.
• Training specialist moderators to review suspected underage accounts.

Every month, TikTok removes around 6 million accounts globally for not meeting the minimum age requirement.

In response to feedback from teens and parents, TikTok is rolling out the following changes to beauty filters:

• Age-restricted effects: Restricting the use of some appearance effects for teens under 18.
• More information: Providing more information about how an effect might change their appearance if applied.
• Creator guidance: Refreshing resources for people developing effects for TikTok Effects House to enhance awareness and understanding of the unintended outcomes that certain effects may pose.

Project Clover is TikTok's industry-leading data security programme aimed at providing additional protection for European users. Recent developments include:

• The European data centre in Norway is now operational, and migration of European TikTok user data to it has begun.
• NCC Group has started continuous monitoring of the security gateway environments, which are designed to enforce technical protocols that only permit approved employee access to certain data types.