TikTok Rolls Out AI Age Detection in Europe

TikTok announced plans on Friday to roll out enhanced age-detection technology across Europe in the coming weeks, aiming to identify and remove accounts belonging to users under 13 amid growing regulatory demands for better child protection on social media platforms.

The system, developed by TikTok's parent company ByteDance, uses artificial intelligence to analyze profile information, uploaded videos, and on-platform behavioral signals to predict whether an account may belong to a child below the platform's minimum age of 13. Accounts flagged by the technology will undergo review by specialist human moderators, who will decide on removal rather than imposing automatic bans. Users facing bans can appeal the decision, with options including facial age estimation provided by verification firm Yoti, credit card checks, or submission of government-issued identification.

This rollout follows a year-long pilot program in Europe, including testing in the United Kingdom, which resulted in the removal of thousands of additional underage accounts. TikTok stated that the technology builds on existing moderation efforts and was designed in collaboration with Ireland's Data Protection...