Brussels opened an investigation this Monday, April 22, targeting the new TikTok Lite application and threatened to suspend from Thursday the functionality of the Chinese social network which rewards time spent in front of screens at the risk of increasing addiction.
Virtual coins, convertible into a gift card, in exchange for watching videos… TikTok, owned by the Chinese group ByteDance, launched its controversial new service in France and Spain at the end of March. By pushing people to stay connected, it could dangerously reinforce dependence on the social network.
The European Commission considers that the mechanism poses “serious risks for the mental health of users”. However, the platform did not communicate to Brussels, before its launch, a risk assessment in accordance with its obligations under the new digital services legislation (DSA).
This is why the European executive is preparing to impose a suspension of the rewards program. “Before formally adopting it, TikTok was granted a deadline until (Wednesday) April 24 to provide its defense arguments.”
Fines and penalties
The European Commission issued an initial warning on April 17, asking the platform to provide within 24 hours an assessment of the risks linked to this deployment and to detail the means implemented to reduce them. But “TikTok did not provide the document on time,” explained the Commission in a press release. “Incessant streams of short, quick videos may seem fun, but they put our children at risk of addiction, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, shortened attention spans,” said European Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton. “We suspect TikTok Lite is as toxic and addictive as ‘light’ cigarettes,” he said, quoted in the press release. “We will spare no effort to protect our children,” he warned.
TikTok must provide its risk assessment report by Tuesday at the latest and answer other questions by May 3. In the absence of a timely response, the Commission may impose fines of up to 1% of the group’s annual global turnover and penalties of up to 5% of daily turnover.