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Two days ago, the Italian Data Protection Authority ordered the immediate blocking of the use of data by users of TikTok, the Chinese social network used by teenagers to share videos, for which the age has not been determined. The decision came after the death of a 10-year-old girl that the Palermo newspapers and prosecutors have linked to the use of TikTok, for now without official confirmation. A member of the Guarantor, Guido Scorza, gave an extensive interview to Anna Masera della Print in which he explains the reasons for the provision.
Among other things, Scorza says that the first complaints against TikTok date back to a month ago but admits that the news of the child’s death influenced the measure: “It would be hypocritical to answer no,” he explains. Scorza also responds to the multiple criticisms that have come in recent days about the fact that TikTok does not have the skills to verify whether its users are old enough to allow the use of their personal data: “We are an authority that has the task of protecting a fundamental right of citizenship and I have no doubt that it would be a mistake to refrain from adopting a measure that, rightly or wrongly, we consider fair and necessary, because it is impracticable.
At the moment, TikTok has not enforced the Guarantor provision, which if accepted would have prevented users of an unverified age from posting new content. TikTok is regularly available to all Italian users.
Indeed, what does its provision entail? A temporary stop to new accesses and comments on the platform for everyone or only for those who are not older?
“The provision prohibits Tik Tok from processing personal data of users whose age it cannot verify because, in the absence of verification, it cannot exclude, and in fact it seems highly probable, that even those under the age of thirteen will use the service that it declares exclusively intended to a public over thirteen years of age and that even minors under fourteen – the age provided for by Italian privacy legislation – give their consent to the processing of their data for commercial purposes. Then it will be up to Tik Tok to evaluate whether and on what terms it may give a selective execution, which is limited only to some users, to the measure. Tik Tok cannot carry out any processing of personal data without having the reasonable certainty that, before, there is a validly concluded contract and / or validly acquired consent ».
In the considerations of the provision, it takes note that “recent press articles reported the news of the death of a 10-year-old girl following emulative practices implemented in relation to her participation in the aforementioned platform”: she has somehow succumbed to the mean pressure?
“It is an aspect on which I would like to be very clear and equally honest, sharing the perplexities raised by someone. We have started our process against Tik Tok, disputing among other things a certain lightness at least apparent in the verification of the age of the users and, consequently, a series of doubts about the legitimacy of the processing of personal data of minors throughout one month. Therefore, attention to the problem was born in unsuspecting times and on an exclusively rational and legal basis. Then, on Friday, facing the Palermo affair, at least as reported by the media and based on the first information acquired, we felt that the risks that we had already feared a month earlier were developing in the most dramatic way. possible and we resolved to adopt a precautionary, urgent and temporary order that does not prejudge the final decision but that at the same time, if it is complied with, could avoid the risk of other episodes such as the one that happened in Palermo or, probably, that happened in Palermo. Are we acting on the basis of pressure from the media? I wouldn’t say that. Did humanity and our conscience play a role in the decision? It would be hypocritical to say no.
(Continue reading in the Press)
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