The European Commission is investigating, among other things, whether Tiktok cares enough about the safety of young people.
Tiktok says that it is looking forward to presenting its work to the commission. Mostphotos
the European Commission report that he has started an official investigation into whether the social media service Tiktok has violated the Union’s digital services regulation.
The commission’s report concerns the sections of the act related to the protection of minors, the risks of addictive design and harmful content, the transparency of marketing, and the release of data to researchers.
According to the release, the commission is investigating whether Tiktok complies with the provisions of the digital services act, which require ensuring the privacy and safety of minors. The commission is also investigating whether the tools used by Tiktok to verify the age of users are effective enough.
In addition, the commission says it will investigate whether Tiktok complies with the obligations of the regulation to assess and reduce the risks related to the design of the service. The assessment concerns, among other things, the risks that the service’s algorithms promote the development of addiction or the user’s sinking into a so-called rabbit hole, where he sinks deeper and deeper into the service’s secrets.
According to the commission, companies are required to carry out such risk assessments in order to prevent threats related to children’s rights, users’ well-being and radicalization.
Large fines threaten
If the commission finds that Tiktok is in violation of the digital services regulation, it can issue Tiktok’s parent company Bytedance with fines of up to six percent of the company’s global turnover.
According to the release, the decision to start an official investigation was based on a preliminary report made by the commission. The report was based on the risk assessment report submitted by the company and the answers that Tiktok has given to the Commission’s requests for information.
According to the commission, no deadline has been set for the completion of the official investigation, but its duration depends, among other things, on the complexity of the case and the company’s willingness to cooperate.
According to the news agency Reuters, Tiktok says that it is looking forward to being able to present to the commission the work it is doing to protect young people in its service.
In its press release, the Commission reminds that the initiation of the investigation does not determine its outcome.
On the investigation initiated by the Commission news First in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat.