The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) of the UK has initiated an investigation into TikTok, Reddit, and Imgur regarding their management of children’s personal data, as announced by the agency on Monday.

This investigation comes in response to escalating worries about how platforms for social media and video sharing gather and process data from younger audiences. The ICO intends to evaluate how TikTok employs the personal information of users aged 13 to 17 to enhance its recommendation algorithms.

Concurrently, both Reddit and Imgur are under examination for their practices regarding the handling of personal data of UK children and their execution of age verification protocols.

“If social media and video-sharing platforms wish to operate in the UK, they need to adhere to data protection regulations,” stated UK Information Commissioner John Edwards. “The onus to ensure children’s safety online rests squarely on the companies providing these services, and my office is committed to holding them accountable.”

TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, has encountered heightened scrutiny over its ties to the Chinese government. In 2023, the ICO imposed a fine exceeding $16 million on the platform for permitting children under 13 to access the app in 2020. Moreover, TikTok faces the possibility of being banned in the U.S. unless it divests its American assets by April 2025, a mandate that was initially advocated during President Trump’s tenure.