BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European Commission has launched a formal investigation against TikTok for allegedly breaching the Digital Services Act or DSA.
The formal probe will focus on the areas related to child protection, advertising transparency, data access for researchers, addictive design and harmful content.
EU industry chief Thierry Breton announced the decision, 'We are launching this formal infringement proceeding today to ensure that proportionate action is taken to protect the physical and emotional well-being of young Europeans. We must spare no effort to protect our children'.
The agency stated that the China-based ByteDance's video platform's algorithmic system may stimulate behavioral addictions and/or so called 'rabbit hole effects'. Also, it is concerned about Tiktok's age verification policies which might 'not be reasonable, proportionate and effective' according to the DSA standards.
'TikTok needs to take a close look at the services they offer and carefully consider the risks that they pose to their users - young as well as old,' European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said.
'TikTok has pioneered features and settings to protect teens and keep under 13s off the platform, issues the whole industry is grappling with,' a TikTok spokesperson ensured. 'We'll continue to work with experts and industry to keep young people on TikTok safe, and look forward to now having the opportunity to explain this work in detail to the Commission.'
If proven guilty, the video-sharing app having over 142 million monthly users in the EU, would have to pay up to 6 percent of its global turnover.
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