The European Commission accuses TikTok of not sufficiently protecting minors. If it fails to comply with the DSA, the Chinese platform could be fined up to 6% of its total global annual revenue.
The European Commission accuses TikTok ofbreach the Digital Services Act « by not guaranteeing the security of accounts for minors “. If the Chinese platform fails to comply with the DSA, it could be fined up to 6% of its total global annual revenue. One day after the fine of 890 million euros imposed on Google by the European Union, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, probably does not take this threat lightly.
The European Commission accuses TikTok of not protecting young people enough
The European institution has “ concluded on a preliminary basis » that TikTok does not comply with the Digital Services Act regarding the protection of minors on its application. The Commission explains: « Under the DSA (Digital Services Regulation), platforms accessible to children and adolescents must ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security. Our preliminary findings show that TikTok does not meet this standard, exposing children and adolescents to risks such as unwanted contact, cyberharassment or predatory behavior ».
To be more precise, the European Commission criticizes the Chinese platform for allowing its minor users the possibility of returning their public account. Indeed, a public TikTok account can be viewed by anyone, even by a person who does not have an account on the platform. Furthermore, as the Commission explains, content shared by accounts held by minors can be recommended to all other users from TikTok via the “For You” feed. In summary, the European Commission accuses TikTok of having “ implemented privacy and security settings for adolescents inconsistent with the European Digital Services Act (DSA) ».
TikTok forced to comply with the DSA under penalty of a fine of up to 6% of its annual turnover
As a reminder, this is a question of conclusion to preliminary title. The Commission now invites the Chinese platform to “ change the default settings of minors’ public accounts so that their content is visible, by default, only to TikTok users they have authorized to follow them “. The institution then specifies: “ If our preliminary findings are confirmed, TikTok could be fined up to 6% of its total global annual revenue ».
These preliminary conclusions seem serious pressure shot from the European Commission, but a blow of pressure which should not be limited to threats. On July 23, the European institution fined Google 890 million euros for practices contrary to the DMA in online search and within its Google Play application store. This is quite simply the largest fine imposed on an American company by the European Union, within the framework of the DMA (Digital Markets Act). The European Commission is therefore not here to joke, and TikTok has every interest in comply with the DSA by changing the default settings of minors’ public accounts.
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Source :
European Commission
