TikTok accounts do not meet minimum legal standards to protect minors from the risks that their activity on this social network may entail. The European Commission’s conclusion, therefore, is that the Bytedance subsidiary “fails to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA)”. Brussels points out in its preliminary findings that the platform’s configuration allows minors to be exposed to “unwanted contacts, cyberbullying or predatory behavior,” according to the statement issued by the EU Executive this Friday.
Read more A girl sexualized in the World Cup final
When someone opens a profile on TikTok, the Chinese short-video social network, they have the option to configure it as “public”. This means that “any user, even those without an account, can view minors’ content”. On paper and by default, Commission sources point out, the profile is set to private mode, but it can easily be changed to the public option from the age of 13. The open possibilities even allow content uploaded to the network by minors who are close to adulthood, those aged 16 and 17, to be recommended.
This allows “a window open to children’s lives” and “given that what minors post can remain online forever and follow them into adulthood, the feature carries risks of lifelong consequences,” the Commission describes in its preliminary conclusions, which, as is often the case, do not necessarily have to be the same as the final ones. The company can now study the accusations and present its arguments. If the accusation is confirmed, the penalty can amount to up to 6% of the global turnover of TikTok’s parent group.
“On TikTok, teen accounts have more than 50 privacy and security measures built in by default. Accounts for under 18s are private by default and we are one of the few platforms where younger teens cannot use direct messaging,” the company responded in a statement issued after the accusation became known. “We will analyze these preliminary findings as we continue to constructively engage with the Commission,” it concludes.
Brussels’ accusation comes at a time when political measures are increasing to prevent or, at least, restrict minors’ access to social networks almost worldwide. France announced this week a ban until the age of 15. Australia did the same months ago for those aged 16 or under. The European Commission commissioned a report from a group of experts to guide its decision-making in the coming months.
Read more The Oceanogràfic of Valencia names one of its grey sharks Ferran Torres
The conclusion of that report, presented less than two weeks ago, was that access for minors should be restricted and progressively opened up to the age of 18. This opening had to be conditional on the environments of these networks being safe. After receiving these conclusions, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced that she would present a legal proposal to establish a homogeneous floor among the Member States.
Since the DSA came into force in 2023, the EU Executive has investigated several aspects of TikTok, as it is considered a large digital services platform, a condition acquired when it exceeds 45 million users (an amount equivalent to 10% of the Union’s population). The file for this was opened in February 2024 with several fronts such as the protection of minors, researchers’ access to data, the addictive design of the application, or the lack of advertising transparency. This last folder, for example, has already been closed because the Chinese company offered measures to remedy the situation that convinced the Commission.
However, the investigation into the addictive design of the application based on elements such as infinite scroll, automatic video playback, or personalized recommendations remains open. Meta also has an open file for these same reasons on Instagram and Facebook. Now TikTok adds this element of child unprotected accounts.
