Brussels will investigate TikTok to determine whether the social network violates the new European Digital Services Regulation (DSA).
The European Commission announced on its website this Monday, February 19, that it had opened an investigation into the social network TikTok. The European body suspects the Chinese group of alleged breaches of the European regulation on digital services (DSA). This is the second procedure of this type after that concerning X (formerly Twitter) opened in December.
Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, specified on X that the investigation would focus on: the addiction system, age verification, network confidentiality settings and rabbit hole effect (“rabbit hole”). The last describes a psychological “trap” of social networks with content that keeps us stuck for hours.
Addiction, privacy and lack of data
On its website, the commission sets out all its grievances. Concerning addiction, Brussels indicates that the work will concern: “ actual or foreseeable negative effects arising from TikTok's system design, including algorithmic systems, which may stimulate behavioral addictions and/or create “rabbit hole effects.” Such an assessment is necessary to counter potential risks for the exercise of the fundamental right to physical and mental well-being of the person “.
The EU will also investigate whether TikTok took appropriate and proportionate measures. to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors. »
TikTok must also provide a reliable and searchable directory of advertisements. Finally, the investigations will focus on “ alleged gaps in researchers' access to TikTok's publicly available data, in accordance with section 40 of the Digital Services Act. »
This article states that large online platforms must give the
coordinator for digital services of the Member State access to the data necessary to monitor and evaluate compliance with this Regulation.
In the event of non-compliance with European rules, the DSA provides for numerous sanctions, the most likely being a fine of up to 6% of the annual global turnover of the intermediary service provider concerned achieved in the previous financial year. Depending on the company in question, this could amount to billions of euros.