The European Commission threatened this Monday with a suspension from next Thursday TikTok Litethe application that the Chinese platform launched in Spain and France, due to suspicions that “it is so”. toxic and addictiveespecially for children.
“Unless TikTok provides convincing evidence of safety, which has not been the case so far, we are ready to activate the interim measures of the Digital Services Law, including the suspension of the TikTok Lite rewards program,” said the EU Commissioner for Markets , Thierry Breton, in a message on the social network
This is the first time since the new EU digital services law came into force that Brussels has directly threatened a platform with financial sanctions. In a statement, the European Commission noted that the Chinese company, which has its European headquarters in Ireland, failed to provide the risk assessment requested last week and launched TikTok Lite in Spain and France “without taking it over.” Effective risk reduction measures“.
“This is particularly worrying for children, given the alleged lack of effective age verification mechanisms on TikTok,” the European executive said. TikTok, which belongs to ByteDance, You now have 48 hours to respondso that the Commission will take measures to protect the mental health of minors if documentation is not provided or if Brussels considers that the risks are not adequately analyzed and mitigated, which could range from the suspension of the system in the EU to financial Fines.
These sanctions could consist of 1% of global annual sales or 5% of your average worldwide income and may also apply Fines “for each day of delay”stated European sources.
While this investigation is ongoing, TikTok has introduced the new reward system that “a financial incentive for additional time spent on the app“European sources explained, adding to Brussels’ “fears” that “it could generate addiction, especially among the most vulnerable users.”
These points can later be exchanged for rewards in e-commerce stores and the like, said the Commission, which, in addition to this new request, has already been conducting a formal investigation into the platform since February due to the apparent “lack of effective mechanisms for verifying age and age alleged circumstances”. addictive design“.
Should the TikTok Lite service be suspended – a decision Brussels could make on Thursday – it would initially be suspended for a renewable period of 60 days. “Sending the document is not enough. We have to make sure of that.” There is no serious risk of harm to our citizens“The sources added. The commission has worked with France, Spain and Ireland to investigate the file.
