EU Commission Finds TikTok Lacking in Child Protection Under Digital Services Act
Quick Look
- The European Commission has announced preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act (DSA), stating TikTok fails to adequately protect children.
- The Commission recommends adjusting default settings for minors' accounts and warns of potential fines up to 6% of global annual revenue if concerns are not addressed.
- This follows a similar UK investigation.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The European Commission announced preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act (DSA) regarding TikTok's protection of children, suggesting specific adjustments to default account settings for minors. This action follows a similar child safety investigation launched by the UK communications regulator Ofcom last week.
TikTok has attracted the ire of the European Union over its protection of children who use the video sharing platform. The European Commission announced preliminary findings today under the Digital Services Act (DSA) that offer specific issues to address.
The Commission suggests that TikTok should adjust the default settings of minors’ “public” accounts so the content they post is only visible to TikTok users the teen has chosen to share it with, and that such content shouldn’t be recommended to other users in the For You feed. Even accounts set to private can be easily discovered through the “following” lists of other users, and their profile photos can be seen by anyone. If TikTok fails to address the concerns, it could face a DSA non-compliance decision that imposes fines of up to 6 percent of the company’s global annual revenue.
“Minors deserve a safe experience from the moment they go online. The Digital Services Act requires platforms to build protections for minors into the design of their services, and holds them to account when they fail to do so,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in the announcement. “A high level of protection should not be an opt-in; it should be the default. This is our responsibility for current and future generations of European children.”
The preliminary findings follow UK communications regulator Ofcom launching a similar child safety investigation into TikTok last week, with updates expected in October. The EU says its separate probe to evaluate the addictive “rabbit hole effect” of TikTok’s recommender systems is still ongoing.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
Ofcom will provide updates on its child safety investigation into TikTok in October.
Very likely · Within months
The EU's separate probe into TikTok's recommender systems will continue.
Very likely · Within months
Open Questions
- How will TikTok respond to the preliminary findings?
- What specific changes will TikTok implement, if any?
- What will be the outcome of the UK's investigation in October?
