TikTok is to reveal how many Irish children it kicked off the platform for lying about their age.
he company, which recently came under fire for the death of a 10-year-old in Italy, will disclose the figures under pressure from the EU and other authorities, executives told the Irish Independent.
TikTok is the most popular social app among Irish children.
A recent nationwide survey showed that it is used by 46pc of 8-to-12-year-olds, despite an age restriction of 13.
This has led to accusations from EU authorities that it profits from millions of underage children using the service.
Last month, the European Commission accused TikTok of “hidden marketing” and “aggressive advertising techniques” targeted at children.
“It's safe to say that age restrictions are not working,” said Alex Cooney, chief executive of CyberSafeKids. “Many children continue to lie about their age to access this platform. It’s all too easy to bypass restrictions.”
CyberSafeKids’ survey of 2,000 children under the age of 13 showed that 82pc of 8-to-12-year-olds are signed up to a social media or message account – 28pc go online unsupervised, with 28pc saying they have friends or followers who are strangers.
Separately, the tech company recently came under fire after the death of a 10-year-old girl in Italy was blamed on a viral ‘blackout’ breath-holding challenge on the network.
TikTok recently surpassed Snapchat as the most popular app with Irish children aged 8-to-12 with 55pc of the underage girls surveyed using it compared with 35pc of boys.
By comparison, Snapchat is only used by 35pc of 8-to-12-year-olds, with 15pc using Instagram.
TikTok’s European base is in Dublin. It recently opened a European Transparency and Accountability Centre here.
The company recently tightened its minimum age entry rules, disallowing second attempts at registration from under-13s who initially entered their real age. It also now allows parents to block the app from their kids’ phones more easily. .
New safety measures for teenage users over the age of 13 have also been introduced, such as making all accounts held by children under 16 ‘private’ by default and disallowing any public comments on videos.