Brazil has imposed a 153.8 million reais ($29.81 million) penalty on TikTok owner ByteDance for unlawfully processing teenagers’ personal data, intensifying regulatory pressure on global social-media platforms over the protection of minors.
Brazil’s National Data Protection Authority, ANPD, said ByteDance’s local operation processed personal data belonging to users aged 13 to 18 without a valid legal basis, violating the country’s General Data Protection Law, or LGPD. The regulator estimates that data belonging to at least 8 million minors may have been processed because TikTok’s age-verification mechanisms were inadequate.
The enforcement action is particularly significant because it targets not only registered TikTok accounts but also the way the platform handled younger users accessing content without logging in, Reuters news report said.
TikTok Faces 153.8 Million Reais Fine in Brazil
The 153.8 million reais penalty represents one of Brazil’s most significant data-protection enforcement actions against a major global technology platform.
ByteDance can receive a 25 percent reduction in the fine if it gives up its right to appeal and makes prompt payment, potentially substantially lowering the financial cost of the penalty.
However, the financial penalty represents only part of the regulatory impact. ANPD has also ordered ByteDance to delete personal data belonging to minors where the company does not have appropriate legal consent or another valid basis for processing.
TikTok has been given 60 days to complete the required deletion. Failure to comply could expose the company to additional daily fines.
At Least 8 Million Minors Potentially Affected
The scale of the data involved is a central part of the case. ANPD estimates that information belonging to at least 8 million children and teenagers may have been processed because TikTok did not have sufficiently effective systems to determine users’ ages.
Separate data cited in Brazilian reporting shows TikTok removed approximately 7.75 million accounts belonging to children between October 2022 and September 2023. That number was equivalent to roughly 20 percent of Brazil’s child population, highlighting the scale of underage access regulators believe the platform has faced.
The regulator’s investigation began in 2021, giving the enforcement case a multi-year history.
TikTok’s Logged-Out Feed Comes Under Regulatory Scrutiny
A key issue is TikTok’s logged-out feed, which allows people to consume content without registering an account.
ANPD found that children could access TikTok through this mechanism without adequate age verification. Personal data could consequently be collected and processed even when users had not created conventional accounts.
The Brazilian regulator highlighted that the logged-out feed available in Brazil differed from TikTok’s approach in major markets including the United States and Europe, where comparable access without age checks was not available.
The case therefore extends beyond conventional account-registration controls and raises questions about how platforms identify and protect minors who consume content without logging in.
Brazil Orders Stronger Privacy Controls for Under-16 Users
Brazil is also requiring changes to TikTok’s privacy and child-safety framework.
Measures include tighter default privacy settings for users under 16, stronger parental authorization requirements, enhanced content controls and restrictions on functionality available to people using TikTok without registered accounts.
Reported restrictions include limits on advertising, comments, social interactions, direct messaging and livestreaming for unregistered users. Brazil’s compliance framework also calls for stronger parental supervision and tighter content filtering.
The enforcement comes as ANPD expands scrutiny across the digital sector. The regulator has initiated further investigations involving 22 digital platforms as Brazil strengthens implementation of rules designed to protect children and teenagers online.
ByteDance Says Fine Relates to 2021 Practices
ByteDance has argued that the Brazilian penalty concerns practices dating to 2021 and does not adequately reflect compliance improvements introduced during 2025.
The company has invested in age-verification systems and child-safety measures in several markets as regulators worldwide increase scrutiny of how social networks collect minors’ information, recommend content and verify user ages.
Brazil’s action comes only days after TikTok and ByteDance agreed to a $400 million U.S. settlement over allegations involving children’s online privacy. Under that agreement, TikTok is set to pay $300 million immediately, with another $100 million contingent on the treatment of an earlier consent decree. TikTok has more than 200 million U.S. users.
The latest Brazilian penalty therefore adds to a rapidly growing global compliance burden for ByteDance as governments demand stronger age verification, tighter data controls and greater protection for children using social-media platforms.
SHAFANA FAZAL
