On Tuesday, August 25, the Brazilian Data Protection Authority (ANPD) issued an official decision imposing a massive fine of 1.538 billion Brazilian reais (approximately 29.8 million US dollars) on ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, for illegally processing personal information of teenagers aged 13 to 18 and failing to implement effective age verification and risk prevention mechanisms.
According to ANPD’s technical explanation, TikTok exhibited irregularities in both the “logged in” and “logged out” access modes. In the “logged out dynamic” mode where registration is not required, children and teenagers could freely browse content without age verification, leading to widespread usage among minors and massive collection and processing of teenage data without proper legal basis.
Regulatory authorities estimated that at least 8 million underage individuals were affected. In response to these violations, ANPD imposed strict corrective measures on ByteDance, including the deletion of relevant data with daily fines, mandatory implementation of privacy and parental control settings, and a deadline to restructure the logged out function.
ByteDance is required to delete personal data of teenagers who did not provide proof of authorization by a legal guardian within 60 working days. Failure to comply with data deletion, reporting, or notification requirements may result in additional fines of 137,081.49 reais per day. A 25% deduction is possible if ByteDance waives the appeal and promptly pays the fine.
Accounts of users under 16 will automatically apply the strictest privacy settings and can only be modified with authorization from parents or guardians. Additionally, the platform must enhance parental supervision systems and strengthen content filtering mechanisms.
For logged out users, TikTok must suspend advertising nationwide in Brazil, restrict usage to within 12 hours, and disable features like content creation, comments, messaging, following other users, and live streaming to ensure content browsing is suitable for all age groups.
In response, TikTok released a statement mentioning that the actions leading to this fine date back to 2021 and did not fully consider ANPD’s approved compliance plan in 2025 and subsequent safeguards. TikTok emphasized that its current measures comply with Brazilian data protection laws and stated that it would continue to communicate with regulatory authorities while evaluating further legal actions.
ANPD confirmed that ByteDance has committed to implementing the relevant compliance plan.
This significant penalty reflects Brazil’s increasing regulatory oversight of digital platforms in recent years. In addition to penalties under the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), authorities are actively monitoring platforms’ compliance with the Children and Teenagers Digital Law that came into effect in March.
Earlier this month, ANPD also ordered the communication platform Discord to suspend its live streaming and video functions. With Brazilian authorities initiating a new round of monitoring procedures for 22 digital platforms, the global trend of expanding regulatory efforts for children and teenagers’ social media use continues to grow.
(This article references reports from Reuters and Agence France-Presse)