The European Union Will Investigate TikTok On Alleged Violations Of Online Content Rules

EU industry chief Thierry Breton (photo: x @ThierryBreton)

JAKARTA - The European Union will investigate whether ByteDance's TikTok violates online content rules aimed at protecting children and ensuring transparency in advertising. This was said by an official on Monday, February 19, which puts the social media platform at the risk of a large fine.

EU industry chief Thierry Breton said he made the decision after analyzing risk assessment reports of the short video app and its replies to requests for information, confirming a Reuters report.

"Today we are opening an investigation into TikTok over alleged transparency violations & the obligation to protect children: addictive designs & screen deadlines, rabbits' hole effects, age verification, default privacy settings," Breton said.

Today we open an investigation into #TikTok over suspected breach of transparency & obligations to protect minors:📱Addictive design & screen time limits🕳️ Rabbit hole effect 🔞 Age verification 🔐 Default privacy settingsEnforcing #DSA for safer Internet for youngsters pic.twitter.com/4d2F0FQUHw

— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) February 19, 2024

Today we open an investigation into #TikTok over suspected breed of transparency & obstructions to protect minors:Additive design & screen time limits Rabbit hole effect Age verification default privacy settingsEnforcing #DSA for safer Internet for youngsters pic.twitter.com/4d2F0FQUHw

The European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), which has been in effect for all online platforms since February 17, requires huge online platforms and search engines to do more to address illegal online content and risks to public security.

The owner of TikTok, China-based ByteDance, could face a fine of up to 6% of its global turnover if TikTok is found to have violated DSA rules.

TikTok says it will continue to work with experts and industry to keep youth safe on their platforms and that they hope to explain this work in detail to the European Commission.

"TikTok has been a pioneer of features and arrangements to protect teens and keep them under the age of 13 away from platforms, a problem facing the entire industry," said a TikTok spokesperson.

The European Commission said the investigation would focus on the design of the TikTok system, including algorithmic systems that can stimulate behavioral addiction and/or create a "rabour hole effect".

It will also investigate whether TikTok has set appropriate and proportional measures to ensure high levels of privacy, safety and security for children. In addition to the problem of protecting children, the Commission is also researching whether TikTok provides reliable databases about advertising on its platform so that researchers can monitor potential online risks.

This is the second DSA investigation after Elon Musk's social media platform, X, found himself under the EU spotlight in December last year.