Brazil Fines TikTok Owner ByteDance $29.8 Million Over Kids' Data

Brazil's National Data Protection Authority, known as ANPD, fined ByteDance 153.7 million reais, roughly $29.8 million, for mishandling the personal data of children and teenagers on TikTok. The decision was published Tuesday in Brazil's official gazette, according to Reuters.

ANPD found that ByteDance processed data belonging to teenagers aged 13 to 18 without a valid legal basis under Brazil's General Data Protection Law, known as the LGPD. Reuters reported the regulator estimated TikTok may have processed the data of at least 8 million children during the period under review, a number that reflects, in ANPD's words, shortcomings in the platform's age-verification system.

The core problem, according to ANPD, is TikTok's "logged-out feed." That's the version of the app anyone can browse without creating an account. Reuters reported this feature exists in Brazil but not in the U.S. or Europe, where TikTok restricts browsing to registered users only. In Brazil, kids could scroll TikTok all day with none of the account-based age checks other markets require.

ANPD's enforcement chief, Fabrício Guimarães Madruga Lopes, said ByteDance failed to implement safeguards to stop underage access, even though TikTok's own terms of service say the platform isn't meant for anyone under 13, according to plataformamedia. ANPD President Waldemar Gonçalves Ortunho Júnior said the agency's decision followed a strictly technical, statute-based process.

What TikTok has to change

Beyond the fine, ByteDance has to delete data collected improperly and roll out a compliance plan. Accounts belonging to users under 16 will automatically get the most restrictive privacy settings, and only a parent or guardian can change them, according to United Press International.

For the no-login version of the app, the changes are bigger. TikTok has to suspend all advertising in Brazil for that feed, cap browsing at 12 hours, and block posting, commenting, direct messaging, following other accounts, and livestreaming for anyone who hasn't registered. UPI reported the unregistered feed will also collect far less data going forward, limited mainly to language, region, and basic device information needed for fraud prevention.

ByteDance has 10 business days from notification to appeal to ANPD's board, according to Anadolu Agency. If it skips the appeal and pays quickly, the fine drops by 25%. If it doesn't comply with the data-deletion and reporting deadlines, it faces additional fines of 137,081.49 reais a day, according to Reuters and The Express Tribune.

TikTok's response

TikTok pushed back on the timing. The company said in a statement, carried by Reuters, that the fine relates to conduct dating back to 2021 and doesn't account for a compliance plan ANPD itself approved in 2025, along with additional safeguards the company says it's added since then. TikTok said its current measures for both logged-in and logged-out users comply with Brazilian law and that it will keep working with the regulator while it weighs legal options.

A near two-year-old administrative proceeding, as plataformamedia noted the case spanned, can easily lag behind whatever product changes a company has already shipped. If ANPD already signed off on a 2025 compliance plan, the practical gap between the violation and the fix matters. Whether that gap justifies the size of the penalty is now something ANPD's board will have to weigh if ByteDance appeals.

Part of a bigger crackdown

This isn't a one-off. Two weeks before the TikTok fine, ANPD ordered Discord to suspend livestreaming and video calls in Brazil after a teenage girl was allegedly encouraged to take her own life during a stream, according to Euronews and UPI. Discord appealed that suspension on Monday, and the appeal is under review, Euronews reported.

ANPD also opened two new monitoring proceedings covering 22 digital platforms to check compliance with Brazil's Digital Child and Adolescent Statute, a law that took effect in March, according to Reuters. ANPD Director Lorena Giuberti Coutinho said the agency is watching TikTok's compliance with that statute separately from the fine itself.

Brazil has been willing to go further than fines before. In 2024, the country blocked X for 40 days until Elon Musk's platform complied with Brazilian Supreme Court orders on removing accounts spreading disinformation, Euronews noted. That history is the backdrop against which ByteDance now has to decide whether to fight this fine or pay up.

What ANPD's board decides if ByteDance appeals, and whether the 22-platform review turns up similar age-verification gaps at other apps operating in Brazil, remains to be seen.