The system builds on a year-long pilot project in Europe. It analyzes profile information, published videos, and behavioral signals to predict whether a social media account belongs to a minor.
Accounts flagged by this technology are reviewed by a dedicated moderator. However, TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, does not automatically block them.
Regulatory control
This measure comes at a time when European authorities are examining how platforms verify the age of their users in accordance with strict data protection rules. This is happening amid concerns that current approaches are either ineffective or overly invasive.
Australia, for example, introduced the world's first social media ban for children under 16 last year. The European Parliament is also currently pushing for age restrictions on social media platforms. Denmark, meanwhile, wants to ban social media for people under 15.
A pilot project in the United Kingdom has already led to the removal of thousands of TikTok accounts belonging to users under the age of 13.
Despite extensive efforts, there is still no globally agreed method for verifying a person's age while maintaining their privacy, TikTok said. For appeals against bans, the company will use facial age estimation from verification provider Yoti, along with credit card verification and identification documents issued by official authorities.
Meta (Facebook) uses the same system to verify the age of its users.
TikTok said the new technology was created specifically for Europe to meet the region's regulatory requirements. The company collaborated with the Irish Data Protection Commission, its main privacy regulator in the EU, to develop the system.
Last year's mega deal for TikTok
On December 19 last year, ByteDance, the Chinese owner of the TikTok app, signed binding agreements to transfer control of the short video app's US operations to a group of investors, including Oracle.
This came after years of disputes that began in August 2020, when President Donald Trump first unsuccessfully attempted to ban the app during his first term in office. As it is a Chinese entity, the reason was concerns about US national security. TikTok has more than 170 million users in the United States.
The financial terms of the deal, announced in an internal memo from TikTok (US) accessed by Reuters, were not disclosed.
Further details of the agreement are in line with those outlined last September, when Trump postponed until January 20, 2026, the enforcement of a law banning the app unless its Chinese owners sell a significant majority stake.
Vice President JD Vance said in September that the new American company would be worth approximately $14 billion. This was less than analysts' estimates (which ranged from $40 to $50 billion). The final amount has not yet been disclosed.
Under the agreement, American and global investors, including cloud giant Oracle, private investment group Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, will hold an 80.1 percent stake in the new joint venture. The current majority owner, Chinese company ByteDance, will retain 19.9 percent. This will fulfill the legal requirement that the Chinese owner not have a controlling stake in the American company TikTok USDS Joint Venture.
Is ByteDance really giving up control?
Even after this mega-deal in the US, uncertainty remains about the ownership of the recommendation algorithm, which is considered TikTok's crown jewel.
Rush Doshi, who served on President Joe Biden's National Security Council, said it was unclear whether the algorithm had been transferred (by contract), licensed, or was still owned and controlled by Beijing, with Oracle only providing "monitoring."
The algorithm is considered key to TikTok's global success, and just a few months ago, the Chinese owner took the view that it would rather shut down the app in the US than sell it.
However, Reuters reported last September, citing its sources, that ByteDance would retain ownership of TikTok's US business operations but hand over control of the app's data, content, and algorithm to a joint venture.
Sources at the time said the joint venture would serve as a backend operation for the US company and would process US user data and the algorithm. A separate division, which will remain wholly owned by ByteDance, would control revenue-generating business operations such as e-commerce and advertising.
Under the agreement, TikTok, with Chinese majority ownership, will generate revenue, while the new joint venture will receive a portion of the revenue for its technology and data services, the sources said.
The network, Trump, and billionaires
Current White House chief Donald Trump credited TikTok with helping him get re-elected as US president. He has more than 15 million followers on his personal account. The White House itself launched an official TikTok account last August.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said that many questions remain unanswered in connection with the agreement.
"Trump wants to hand over even more control over what you watch to his billionaire friends. Americans deserve to know if the president has made another backdoor deal for this billionaire takeover of TikTok," she said on the X network.
The White House chief has a close relationship with billionaire and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and his family.
Last September, Trump said that Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News and other media projects, and "probably four or five absolutely world-class investors" would also be involved in the deal. It was unclear whether Dell and Murdoch were involved in the final agreement.
(reuters, im)