Brazil’s national data protection authority fined TikTok 153.7 million reais, equivalent to about $29.9 million, after finding that the platform had not taken adequate steps to stop children and adolescents from accessing its services and having their personal information processed. The ANPD also ordered required ByteDance, TikTok’s corporate parent, to erase information obtained contrary to the rules.
ANPD enforcement director Fabricio Lopes said information from young users had been processed for advertising and described the penalty as a strong warning to other online platforms. Brazil requires accounts belonging to people younger than 16 to be connected with those of their parents, part of a wider regulatory effort addressing children’s use of social media.
The authority paired the monetary sanction with operational requirements. TikTok committed to a compliance program intended to improve safeguards for children and teenagers. The platform must automatically give under-16 accounts more restrictive privacy settings, reinforce tools for parental oversight and introduce stronger filters for content. It also agreed to stop showing advertising to people who use TikTok without logging in.
TikTok disputed the way the decision assessed its practices. In a statement, the company said the concerns originated in 2021 and did not reflect changes made afterward. It said it had introduced more than 50 safety measures for teenagers during the previous six years. Examples cited by the company included disabling direct messages for users below 16, limiting recommendations of their posts to strangers and allowing parents to control screen time and block accounts.
The ANPD said TikTok had ten days to appeal. The decision was part of expanding Brazilian scrutiny of digital services rather than an isolated enforcement action. Agency director Lorena Giuberti Coutinho said proceedings had begun to examine whether 22 social networks and platforms were complying with a child-and-teen protection law enacted during the year. She anticipated stronger enforcement in the months ahead.
Other recent cases underline that approach. The regulator ordered Discord to suspend livestreaming and video calling after allegations that a teenage girl was encouraged to die by suicide during a broadcast. Discord appealed, and the ANPD said that challenge was under review. Separately, the platform X had been blocked for 40 days in 2024 until it complied with Supreme Court directions concerning accounts accused of spreading disinformation.
The TikTok order combines a substantial fine, deletion of unlawfully handled information and forward-looking design changes. Its practical effect will depend on ByteDance’s implementation and the outcome of any appeal. The case also signals that Brazilian oversight is moving beyond content disputes toward the collection, use and protection of minors’ data across large online platforms.
