TikTok Implements Age Limit After Italian Girl Dies

Video-sharing social network TikTok has announced it will no longer allow anyone under 13 on its Italian platform after a 10-year-old girl died performing a “blackout challenge.” TikTok’s age verification is easy to circumvent, but a variety of other systems are being considered to solidify the system, including the use of artificial intelligence, according to Reuters.

The change was sparked by a January incident in which a girl asphyxiated to death during a TikTok challenge, prompting Italian regulators to temporarily block the service. It will resume service with its new age restriction going into effect on Feb. 9.

All Italian TikTok accounts will be disabled on that date and have to enter their age to resume service. Anyone who enters their age as under 13 will have their account deleted. The volunteered information can be falsified but TikTok will seek other ways to verify age.

TikTok has begun an ad blitz targeting parents to inform them of the new rules, and has contacted EU regulators in Ireland to ask for emergency permission to employ AI programs to detect minors. Developers are also considering adding a button to the user interface that would allow people to quickly report those they believe to be under 13.

“The [Data Protection Commission] is engaging with TikTok to review, in the context of the processing of personal data, the measures implemented by the company to ensure it has effective means of identifying child users on the platform and, more generally, the measures and protections to protect the most vulnerable of users in terms of risks arising from the processing of their personal data,” the agency told TechCrunch.

Italian authorities say they’re monitoring the situation closely to judge the effectiveness of the new measures.