EU finds TikTok violates its digital rule book by failing to protect privacy of minors - AP News

What the report says

The Associated Press reports that the European Commission said Friday it has found TikTok failed to sufficiently safeguard minors’ privacy under the European Union’s Digital Services Act. The Commission’s concern centers on account visibility: officials said adults could view accounts belonging to children, leaving young users more vulnerable to cyberbullying, unwanted contact and predatory behavior.

Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said children’s material should not be accessible to strangers and argued that TikTok’s settings for younger users were not effective enough. According to AP, the Commission said users aged 13 to 15 can easily switch accounts from private to public, while private accounts for users aged 16 to 17 may still be visible to people across the internet.

TikTok will be able to respond to the findings before any final enforcement action. AP reported that if the Commission is not satisfied with the company’s reply, it could issue a formal non-compliance decision and impose a fine of up to 6% of TikTok’s total annual revenue. TikTok, owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, said it would review the findings and continue discussions with EU officials, adding that it shares the goal of protecting minors online.

The case is part of Brussels’ wider push to regulate large technology platforms. AP noted that the EU previously found in February that TikTok had violated another part of its digital rules over allegedly addictive design features such as autoplay and infinite scrolling, with particular concern about possible harm to minors.