Brazil’s data protection regulator fined TikTok parent company ByteDance more than 153 million reais (nearly $30 million) on Tuesday, ruling that the platform violated data privacy laws by collecting and processing personal information from children and teenagers without a valid legal basis or adequate safeguards, the Associated Press reported.

The regulatory body, known as the ANPD, found the violations spanned both logged-in accounts and guest browsing sessions. ByteDance has 10 days to appeal the ruling. The order also requires the company to delete all data gathered illegally and to submit a plan for improving its protections for minors.

The fine is the latest in a series of Brazilian regulatory actions targeting social media companies over child safety. Earlier this month, the ANPD ordered Discord to suspend live broadcasts after linking the feature to a suicide case. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government and Brazil’s Supreme Court have made repeated attempts to regulate minors’ internet use, with mixed results so far, placing the country alongside Australia, Canada and Indonesia in pursuing similar measures. Brazil’s first lady, Rosângela Lula da Silva, has also pushed for stronger protections for young internet users and said on August 6 that Discord should be taken offline following the suicide case.

The ruling adds to a separate children’s privacy exposure TikTok has been working to resolve in the United States. The company has been finalizing a roughly $400 million settlement with the Department of Justice over a 2024 lawsuit alleging widespread violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. That suit, filed after a referral from the Federal Trade Commission, alleged TikTok and ByteDance knowingly avoided deleting the accounts of users identified as children, continuing to collect their data, serve them ads and allow adult users to contact them directly. TikTok contested the allegations at the time, saying it was “going above and beyond” federal requirements.

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