The usage, or even abuse of customer data, is a long-raging argument that led to the GDPR regulation in 2016. Many companies have come close to infringing this, but when the data being gathered is from children it raises more than just eyebrows from the authorities. This BBC article discusses the allegations that “TikTok takes children’s personal information, including phone numbers, videos, exact location and biometric data, without sufficient warning, transparency or the necessary consent required by law, and without children or parents knowing what is being done with that information”. England´s former children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, has argued that “behind the fun songs, dance challenges and lip-sync trends lies something far more sinister….(it is) a data collection service that is thinly veiled as a social network which has “deliberately and successfully deceived parents”. THis accusation is not to be taken lightly and could result in payments to children all over the UK and the EU. In the current context of social media seen by many as a social evil, the effects of any outcome might well reduce the usage of these platforms by many, at least if parents have any say in the matter.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56815480