EU Charges TikTok With Breaching Child Safety Rules Under Digital Services Act

European Union tech regulators charged TikTok on Friday with breaching online safety rules designed to protect children, opening the door to potential global financial penalties. The charges focus on design features within the ByteDance-owned video app that regulators say leave minors vulnerable to cyberbullying and online predators.

Under preliminary findings issued through the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Commission determined that TikTok fails to meet mandatory safety standards for young users. The platform currently allows children to set their accounts to public, exposing their video uploads and personal details to unknown viewers.

Even when accounts are set to private, protection remains incomplete. Regulators pointed out that private child profiles remain discoverable through the 'following' and 'followers' lists of other users—a loophole accessible even to individuals without a TikTok account.

EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen stressed that online safety should not be optional for young users. "The Digital Services Act requires platforms to build protections for minors into the design of their services, and holds them to account when they fail to do so," Virkkunen said. "A high level of protection should not be an opt-in; it should be the default."

To fix these vulnerabilities, the Commission stated that TikTok must adjust default account settings so that content posted by minors is only visible to contacts accepted by the children.

TikTok plans to review the findings and maintain dialogue with the EU. Defending its existing tools, the company highlighted built-in safeguards. "Teen accounts on TikTok have more than 50 preset privacy and safety features, informed by experts, from the moment they set up an account," TikTok stated. "Under 18 accounts are private by default and we are one of the only platforms where younger teens cannot use direct messaging or have their content eligible to appear in the For You feed."

This action represents the fourth regulatory case brought against TikTok under EU tech rules over the past two years. TikTok offered concessions to resolve two previous disputes, while a third investigation remains open.

If the current preliminary charges are upheld after TikTok examines the case files and submits its formal response, the European Commission could levy fines reaching up to 6% of the company's global annual turnover.

Sources

• Primary Source: Reuters - TikTok charged with breaching EU tech rules on online safety for kids, EU says

• Photo Credit: REUTERS