TikTok removes more than 7 million underage accounts

TikTok, the short-video social-media platform popular among teens, said it removed more than 7 million accounts belonging to children under 13 during the first quarter, taking a significant step in enforcing the required age of users on the app.

Of more than 11.1 million accounts that were removed for violating the app’s guidelines, 7.26 million of them were from users suspected of being under the age guidelines, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. It was the first time TikTok published the number of underage accounts it expunged. In the U.S., internet sites are required to obtain parental permission before collecting data on children under 13, according to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. But many kids fudge their age and create accounts anyway across social media sites from Instagram to YouTube.