TikTok tightens age verification measures in Europe and introduces age prediction technology

TikTok has started to implement improved age prediction technology to harden your age verification measures in Europe reinforcing the way in which the company’s moderation teams detect and delete accounts belonging to users under 13 years of age.

The social network owned by ByteDance has referred to the “complicated challenge” of online age verification in order to offer Safe environments and services for underage usersgiven that “There is still no agreed method worldwide” to confirm a person’s age while preserving their identity.

In this sense, the company has transferred its commitment to keeping users under 13 years of age (minimum age to use TikTok) off the platform, as well as offering appropriate experiences depending on the age of the users. To this end, it has begun to implement Improved age verification technology for minors in Europe.

Specifically, TikTok has improved its age prediction capabilities with technology that uses the information that the account holder provides about himself, such as profile dataas well as examines the videos you post and other behaviors on the platform, to determine your approximate age.

In this way, when this system detects that an account may belong to a child under 13 years of age, it is sent directly to a specialized moderator of its human team, which returns to review the account to evaluate if it belongs to a minor and decides if it should be eliminated.

This was shared in a statement on its website, where it detailed that this technology has begun to be implemented after a trial period in Europe that took place last year 2025, with which, as a result, eliminated thousands of minor accounts.

However, TikTok has clarified that it offers different options so that users can recover your accountsin case it has been deleted erroneously classifying it as belonging to a person under 13 years of age.

Users can submit an appeal and confirm their age through a facial age estimation system, provided by the Yoti companywhich works by scanning the face in a video through the smartphone’s camera. Likewise, they can also resort to a authorization via credit card or provide a appropriate government identification.

It should be noted that TikTok will send a notification to users in Europe to inform them about the launch of this technology and provide information about how it works. Likewise, it has been launched for users of the European Economic Area, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

ABOUT 6 MILLION MINOR ACCOUNTS DELETED EVERY MONTH

In addition to all this, TikTok has also indicated that they have other approaches to detect and confirm when people may not have provided their correct date of birth when creating their account on the social network.

That is, the first age limitation barrier is when the person create an account e enter your date of birth. This age restriction method is “neutral,” because the company “does not imply or pressure people to enter the correct age.” If you do not meet the minimum age, suspends the account and the ability to re-create an account with a different date.

Likewise, they also train their moderation team so that they are watch out for account signals that may indicate that it is being used by a child under 13 years of age, even if they are reviewing content for another reason. In this case, they can send the account to your specialized review team with greater experience in age control.

Finally, TikTok has remembered that Anyone can report an account that you believe belongs to someone under 13 years old, without needing to have a TikTok account.

As a result of all these age verification and control methods, the company has ensured that deletes around six million accounts juvenile age worldwide every month.

APPROPRIATE EXPERIENCES FOR EVERY AGE

For minor users but over 13 years of age, TikTok offers the teen accounts, with over 50 security features and settingsprivacy and protection predefined and activated automatically. For example, the screen time limit of 50 minutes by default or not receiving notifications after the set bedtime.

Likewise, TikTok has indicated that it also will use new age prediction technology to determine if a person is within a age range for minor users, for example, 13 to 15 years old.

If this age estimate does not match the date provided by the person in question, the account will be sent to a moderator for review and assign a experience appropriate for their age.

SECURITY AND PRIVACY

All these measures are carried out with the objective of prioritize protection and privacy of people on the social network. To this end, they have integrated data protection principles “into the design phase from the beginning”, ensuring that age prediction not be used for any purpose other than deciding whether to submit an account to human moderators.

“With this approach, we can offer security to teenagers while respecting privacy,” the company has assured, while clarifying that they have consulted with TikTok’s main privacy regulator in the EU, such as the Data Protection Commission (CPD)to comply with European data protection standards in this matter.