Jan. 16 (UPI) -- TikTok said Friday that it would begin rolling out enhanced age-verification technology to ensure users in the European Union meet the platform's minimum-age rules precluding children under 13 from using the app.
The rollout over the coming weeks follows a year-long pilot of the system, which automatically flags up accounts that may belong to someone under 13 to a human moderator to make a final determination, resulting in the removal of thousands of underage accounts, TikTok said in a blogpost.
The technology uses information the account holder provides, including their profile, the types of videos they upload and their actions while using the app to "predict" whether they are likely to be underage.
The process includes an appeal process in which users are able to prove their age with a government-approved ID, facial age estimation technology or an authorization on a credit card in their name.
TikTok said the new guardrails were in addition to existing "multi-layered" checks to keep children off the platform by detecting and verifying when users have not entered their real date of birth.
