EU Says TikTok Hasn’t Done Enough To Ensure Minors’ Safety

The European Commission (EC) has accused TikTok of failing to protect the privacy of accounts belonging to minors, since they’re visible to the public by default. Earlier this week, the EC sent the social media platform its preliminary findings claiming that TikTok’s policy for minors’ accounts doesn’t meet “the safety standards required under the Digital Services Act (DSA).” 

In particular, the commission said that minors can set their accounts to public, allowing anyone on TikTok to see their content. The EC added that TikTok’s current algorithm allows for content from accounts belonging to users between 16 and 17 years old to be recommended through its For You feed. According to the EC, minors could then encounter “unwanted contact from potential perpretrators,” cyberbullying or predatory behavior. 

The commission also said that “platforms accessible to minors must ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security on their service,” under the Digital Services Act, adding that TikTok’s current settings “fail to meet this standard, as they expose minors’ accounts and content too widely.” TikTok will be able to reply to the findings, but the commission may hit the social media platform with a fine of up to six percent of its gross annual revenue for non-compliance.

To remedy this, the EC recommended TikTok adjust the default settings of accounts belonging to minors to only be visible to friends. To further enforce the DSA, the commission advised TikTok to stop recommending content from minor accounts in its For You feed. It’s not the first time the EC has brought up non-compliance actions against TikTok. Earlier this year, TikTok was accused of employing “addictive design” features like infinite scroll, autoplay and push notifications. Outside the European Union, one of the UK’s regulatory authorities, Ofcom, said TikTok was not effective enough at preventing harmful content from reaching children.