Italy ordered video app TikTok on Friday to block the accounts of any users in Italy whose age it could not verify. This order of the government comes after the death of a 10-year-old girl who had been using the Chinese-owned app.
The Italian data privacy watchdog said that although TikTok had committed to ban registration for children aged under 13, it was nonetheless easy to circumvent this rule. As a result, it said TikTok had to block unverified user accounts until at least February 15 awaiting further information.
The order came after a girl died of asphyxiation in Palermo, Sicily, in a case that has shocked Italy. Her parents said she had been participating in a so-called blackout challenge on TikTok, putting a belt around her neck and holding her breath while recording herself on her phone. Prosecutors have opened an investigation into possible incitement to suicide and are looking to see whether someone invited her to take part in the challenge. The autority said, "The watchdog decided to intervene as a matter of urgency following the terrible case of the 10-year-old girl from Palermo."
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