Italy tells TikTok to block users after death of young girl

The Italian data privacy watchdog ordered video app TikTok on Friday to block the accounts of any users in Italy whose age it could not verify following the death of a 10-year-old girl who had been using the Chinese-owned app.

In a statement, the regulator 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.

A spokeswoman for TikTok in Italy said the company was analyzing the communication received from the authority.