Will the EU celebrate TikTok?
The European Commission has opened an investigation into TikTok for suspected violations of child protection obligations. The video app risks a fine of up to 6% of its global turnover. All the details
The crackdown on social media continues. The European Commission has launched formal proceedings to assess whether TikTok may have violated the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas related to the protection of minors. If found guilty, the Bytedance-owned app risks fines of up to 6% of global revenue.
EU INVESTIGATIONS INTO TIKTOK STARTED
“Today we are opening an investigation into TikTok for suspected violations of transparency and child protection obligations,” European Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote in X. “The protection of minors is a top priority for the DSA. As a platform that reaches millions of children and teenagers, TikTok must fully respect this and has a particular role to play in protecting minors online. We launch this formal infringement procedure today – added Breton – to ensure that proportionate actions are taken to protect the physical and emotional well-being of young Europeans. We must spare no effort to protect our children."
WHAT IS BEING INVESTIGATED
The European Commission has reported that the proceedings will be aimed at assessing whether TikTok may have violated the DSA in areas related to the protection of minors, the transparency of advertising, access to data for researchers, as well as the management of the risk of creating addiction and harmful content. The decision comes following a preliminary investigation which examined the analysis of the risk assessment report submitted by TikTok in September 2023 and TikTok's responses to the Commission's formal requests for information on illegal content, child protection and access to data.
RISK OF BEHAVIORAL ADDICTIONS AND AGE VERIFICATION
In particular, the work will focus on compliance with obligations relating to the assessment and mitigation of systemic risks, in terms of real or foreseeable negative effects resulting from the design of the TikTok system, including algorithmic systems, which could stimulate behavioral dependencies, the so-called rabbit hole”. We will then evaluate the age verification tools used by TikTok to prevent minors from accessing inappropriate content, which may not be reasonable, proportionate and effective.
Compliance with the Digital Services Act obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, security and protection for minors will also be assessed.
ADVERTISEMENTS AND ACCESS TO DATA
The EU Commission will also evaluate compliance with the obligations under the DSA to provide a searchable and reliable archive for advertisements presented on TikTok and on the measures taken by the app to increase the transparency of its platform. Finally, the investigation concerns alleged shortcomings in providing researchers access to TikTok's publicly accessible data.
WHAT IS RISKED AND WHAT TIKTOK RESPONDED
There is no formal deadline for the conclusion of the investigations. In fact, the press release simply states that the duration depends on various factors, such as "the complexity of the case, the extent to which the company concerned collaborates with the Commission and the exercise of the rights of defence". In 2023, TikTok reported having 135.9 million monthly active users in the EU.
If TikTok is found guilty of violating DSA rules, China's ByteDance could face fines of up to 6% of its global turnover.
For its part, the video app said that it will continue to work with experts and industry to ensure the safety of young people on its platform and that it looks forward to explaining this work in detail to the European Commission.
As Tech Crunch reminds us , this is the second investigation relating to the Digital Services Act after it ended up in Elon Musk's X sights in December last year, the investigations of which are still ongoing.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/lue-fara-la-festa-a-tiktok/ on Mon, 19 Feb 2024 15:24:32 +0000.