Canada: Privacy commissioners of Canada issued report finding TikTok violated privacy laws through inappropriate collection of children's data and inadequate user consent practices

On 23 September 2025, the privacy commissioners of Canada, Québec, British Columbia and Alberta published a joint investigation report finding TikTok violated federal and provincial privacy laws through inappropriate collection of children's data and inadequate user consent practices. The investigation found TikTok removed approximately 500,000 underage Canadian accounts annually but failed to implement effective age verification beyond voluntary age gates, allowing extensive tracking and profiling of children under 13 and under 14 in Quebec for targeted advertising. TikTok's consent mechanisms were deemed inadequate for both adults and youth users due to unclear privacy policies, inaccessible supplementary documents, and lack of prominent up-front disclosure about data collection practices including biometric facial analysis for age estimation. TikTok also violated Quebec's transparency requirements by failing to provide clear information about tracking technologies and not ensuring privacy-by-default settings. TikTok agreed to implement enhanced age assurance models using facial analysis and natural language processing, cease targeted advertising to under-18 users except for generic categories, enhance privacy communications with prominent notices about data transfers to China, create youth-specific privacy resources, and establish a privacy settings check-up mechanism. Most commitments must be completed within six months, with privacy impact assessments due within one to four months and monthly progress reports required until full compliance.