The company suspended a TikTok service that offers rewards such as gift vouchers for watching videos shortly after the EU threatened to block it amid fears of addiction among children.
On Monday, digital commissioner Thierry Breton said the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform “failed to demonstrate” that the TikTok Lite feature, which recently launched in France and Spain, met obligations under the sweeping new Digital Services Act (DSA). laws.
He said the EU believed the service could be as “addictive as cigarettes” and gave the company 48 hours to respond with any new defense.
In a preemptive move, TikTok wrote to Breton to say it was suspending the service.
Breton said Wednesday: “Our children are not guinea pigs for social media. “The DSA ensures the security of our EU online space.”
It is the first case of non-compliance taken on by the EU since the DSA came into force in August last year.
It is the latest blow to the company, after the US Senate voted on Tuesday to approve a bill that will ban TikTok or force the sale of its business in the United States.
Breton expressed dismay that the company had gone ahead with the service knowing that the European Commission had already raised concerns with TikTok about general child protection issues.
“I note TikTok’s decision to suspend the TikTok Lite ‘rewards program’ in the EU, following the opening of our case on April 22 and the communication of our willingness to take interim measures,” he said.
“Our cases against TikTok over the platform’s risk of addiction continue, including the investigation to establish whether the launch of TikTok Lite was in compliance with the DSA.
“We suspect that this feature could be addictive and that TikTok did not conduct a diligent risk assessment or take effective mitigation measures before its launch.”
TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, will suspend the “task and reward program” service in France and Spain for 60 days for new users starting Wednesday.
It will also stop providing the service to existing subscribers no later than May 1 and pause the rollout in other EU countries.
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The suspension of the service is the first example of the EU using the powers set out in the DSA, which forces social media companies, including X and Facebook, to comply with EU laws or risk sanctions, which can include bans or fines of up to 6% of the global total. income.
A European Commission spokesperson confirmed that the two formal proceedings against TikTok were still active, including this recent case involving TikTok Lite.
The first case was filed in February and concerns the protection of children on TikTok, including issues of age verification, advertising transparency, and risk management of addictive designs and harmful content.
A TikTok spokesperson said: “TikTok always seeks to engage constructively with the EU Commission and other regulators.
“Therefore, we are voluntarily suspending the rewards features on TikTok Lite while we address the concerns they have raised.”