RELEASE: Gottheimer, Stefanik, Suozzi Urge TikTok to Strengthen Age Verification Protections for Minors

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, April 22, 2026, Representatives Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Elise Stefanik (NY-21), and Tom Suozzi (NY-3) sent a bipartisan letter to TikTok CEO Adam Presser urging the company to strengthen its age verification systems and implement stronger safeguards to protect children and teens using the platform.

“Tens of millions of TikTok users are under the age of 18… new users are only required to provide their date of birth with no actual way to prove whether the input is truthful,” the Members wrote. “It is critical that TikTok works to put in place commonsense, enforceable safeguards for its younger users.”

The Members raised concerns that current safeguards are insufficient to prevent underage users from accessing the platform or bypassing protections designed for younger users. They highlighted growing evidence linking excessive social media use among adolescents to mental health challenges, including increased risks of depression, impulsivity, and addiction-like behaviors.

The letter calls on TikTok to implement commonsense, enforceable measures to better verify user ages, including requiring parental or guardian verification for users under 18 and leveraging existing data to identify and prevent underage access. The Members also encouraged TikTok to work with major operating system developers to ensure more accurate age verification and prevent circumvention.

The lawmakers emphasized that underage users should not be exposed to inappropriate content or allowed to share sensitive information online without proper safeguards. They noted that strengthening age verification would build on recent steps TikTok has taken to improve data security and protect users.

The bipartisan letter, led by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Elise Stefanik (NY-21), and Tom Suozzi (NY-3), underscores the urgency of protecting children online and holding social media companies accountable for user safety.

Find the letter here and below.

Adam Presser

CEO

TikTok USDS Joint Venture

5800 Bristol Parkway

Culver City, CA 90230

Dear Mr. Presser:

As you know, tens of millions of TikTok users are under the age of 18. While TikTok requires

users to be at least 13 years old to create an account, new users are only required to provide their

date of birth with no actual way to prove whether the input is truthful. I am concerned that there

are a significant number of Americans younger than 13 using the app, and even more who are

younger than 18 bypassing TikTok’s built-in safeguards for teen and younger teen accounts.

Among adolescents, excessive engagement with digital platforms has been associated with

mental health disorders such as heightened impulsivity, attention deficits, an increased risk of

addiction-like behaviors, and higher rates of body dysmorphic disorder. In addition, research

indicates that those who spend more time on social media tend to be more susceptible to

depression because of increased social isolation and a lack of healthy activities like exercise and

sleep. Separately, giving teens unrestricted access to post content on social media can result in

more tangible risks like cyberbullying and stalking.

Underage users should not be able to post sensitive information or access inappropriate content.

It is critical that TikTok works to put in place commonsense, enforceable safeguards for its

younger users.

Specifically, I urge you to put the following measures in place:

• Require a parent or legal guardian to verify the date of birth of any user under the age of 18 creating an account on TikTok.
• Implement procedures to utilize usage and transactional data, which TikTok already collects, to verify the age of users potentially under the age of 18.

To implement these measures, TikTok should work directly with the leading operating system

developers to prevent new users from bypassing parental verification and create a clearer picture

of a new user’s true age. For example, if a user is designated as a child in their iCloud account,

meaning they are under 13, Apple could share that information with TikTok and the user

therefore would not be able to create a TikTok account.

Many studies have shown that adolescents use social media apps like TikTok despite age

verification restrictions. TikTok notably has one of the highest rates amongst social media users

under the age of 13. 68 percent of respondents to a recent study said they had TikTok accounts

and 39 percent said TikTok was the social media site they used the most.

TikTok’s recent transfer of its U.S. operations to a new joint venture under American ownership

was a meaningful step towards securing Americans’ data and protecting against the Chinese

Communist Party’s intention to leverage the platform to spew disinformation, undermine

democracy, and promote antisemitic propaganda. Taking the actions outlined above would

represent another significant improvement of the platform’s commitment to Americans’ safety.

Please update me on the concrete steps TikTok is taking to strengthen its age verification

measures via letter to 106 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 or email

(Josh.Gottheimer@mail.house.gov).

I look forward to continuing to work with you to protect American children online.

Sincerely,

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