NEW DELHI: The European Union (EU) on Monday began a formal probe against TikTok into alleged violations of rules to protect minors online under a law mandating digital content policing.
“Today we open an investigation into #TikTok over suspected breach of transparency & obligations to protect minors,” Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on X as he announced the proceedings against the video-sharing app owned by China’s ByteDance, under the bloc’s new Digital Services Act.
The EU announced investigations last year in November against YouTube and TikTok to find out what action the US and Chinese-owned platforms are taking to ensure the safety of minors on their platforms.
The European Commission had said that it sent formal requests for information to TikTok and YouTube respectively, the first step in procedures launched under the EU’s new law on digital content.
The EU’s executive arm said it wanted to know what measures the video-sharing platforms have taken to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA), especially regarding the risks posed to children’s mental and physical health.
The EU’s top tech enforcer, Thierry Breton, had said in August last year that “child protection will be an enforcement priority” for the DSA.
The law has also banned targeted advertising to minors aged 17 and under.
The EU already launched probes into TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook-parent Meta over disinformation following the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.
The DSA came into force in August 2023 for 19 sites designated by the EU as “very large” platforms that have more than 45 million monthly active users, including Google Search, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon and Apple’s AppStore.
“Today we open an investigation into #TikTok over suspected breach of transparency & obligations to protect minors,” Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton said on X as he announced the proceedings against the video-sharing app owned by China’s ByteDance, under the bloc’s new Digital Services Act.
The EU announced investigations last year in November against YouTube and TikTok to find out what action the US and Chinese-owned platforms are taking to ensure the safety of minors on their platforms.
The European Commission had said that it sent formal requests for information to TikTok and YouTube respectively, the first step in procedures launched under the EU’s new law on digital content.
The EU’s executive arm said it wanted to know what measures the video-sharing platforms have taken to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA), especially regarding the risks posed to children’s mental and physical health.
The EU’s top tech enforcer, Thierry Breton, had said in August last year that “child protection will be an enforcement priority” for the DSA.
The law has also banned targeted advertising to minors aged 17 and under.
The EU already launched probes into TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook-parent Meta over disinformation following the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.
The DSA came into force in August 2023 for 19 sites designated by the EU as “very large” platforms that have more than 45 million monthly active users, including Google Search, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Amazon and Apple’s AppStore.