The order comes after the death of a 10-year-old girl in Palermo. The child died of asphyxiation, and authorities are investigating whether anyone invited her to try the challenge.

Tiktok said it had not found content on its platform which would have encouraged the child to participate in the challenge. The company said it was cooperating with the investigation.

Tiktok spokesperson:’we are constantly strengthening our policies, processes, and technologies to protect all users’.’privacy and safety are top priorities for TikTok,’ TikTok spokesperson said.

Users must be at least 13 years old to sign up for an account on TikTok. Italian authorities say it’s easy to get around that rule.

Tiktok introduced remote parental controls and allowed parents to change kids’ privacy settings on the app. Earlier this month, TikTok updated the default privacy settings for users between 13 and 15 years old, putting limits on who can see and comment on their videos.

Tiktok’s parent company paid a $ 5.7 million fine to the US Federal Trade Commission in 2019 over allegations it violated the children’s online privacy act (COPPA) in allowing users under 13 to sign up for the app without their parents’ consent. Children’s privacy advocates have argued that TikTok does not do enough to protect children on its platform.

The temporary suspension of unverified accounts in Italy bans TikTok from’further processing user data for which there is no absolute certainty of age’.