Brazil's National Data Protection Authority (ANPD) has fined ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, R$ 153.7 million (roughly $27 million) for failing to properly handle the personal data of children and teenagers on the platform. The decision was published in the country's official gazette on Tuesday, August 25, according to Brazilian outlet G1. The investigation began in 2021 and found five violations of Brazil's General Data Protection Law, known as the LGPD, the country's equivalent of Europe's GDPR.
According to the agency, the violations occurred across two ways of accessing the app: a 'feed without registration,' usable without creating an account, and a 'feed with registration.' In both cases, ANPD concluded TikTok processed data belonging to children and teens without valid legal grounds and failed to adopt adequate measures to prevent this improper handling. The agency's enforcement division also found the company had not proven its protective mechanisms actually worked.
TikTok's own terms of service state the platform is unsuitable for children under 13, but ANPD found the app left loopholes that let minors lie about their age when creating accounts, since verification relied only on self-declaration. Investigators also found the platform illegally used minors' data for targeted advertising, a practice banned under Brazilian law. According to Lorena Giuberti Coutinho, an ANPD director, in comments to Brazil's Jornal Nacional newscast, when the platform states in its own terms of use that a product is unsuitable for children under 13 and does not adopt effective measures to prevent those children and teenagers from entering, this creates serious risks.
Compliance plan and new restrictions
In a separate ruling issued the same day, ANPD's board approved, on appeal, a compliance plan submitted by ByteDance. The approval requires the company to follow age-verification rules set out in Brazil's Digital Statute for Children and Adolescents (known as ECA Digital) on a timeline set by the agency. Planned measures include automatically stricter privacy settings for accounts belonging to users under 16, stronger parental-control tools, and tighter content filters to limit minors' access to inappropriate material.
For users who access TikTok without creating an account, restrictions go further: usage will be capped at 12 hours, users won't be able to comment, send direct messages, follow or be followed, and advertising will be suspended in Brazil for that access mode. Posting or watching livestreams will also be blocked. ByteDance can appeal the fine to ANPD's board within ten business days of the notification, which was delivered on Monday, August 24.
Contacted by G1, TikTok said child and teen safety is an absolute priority and that it has maintained a transparent and collaborative dialogue with ANPD for five years. The company said this work led to the Compliance Plan approved by the agency in 2025, and that the fine addresses an earlier period, 2021, that does not reflect measures the company has voluntarily implemented since then. The TikTok ruling is unrelated to ANPD's earlier suspension of livestreaming on Discord in Brazil, ordered earlier this month after a 13-year-old girl was allegedly induced by other teenagers to attempt suicide during a livestream on that platform.