The EU has launched an official investigation into TikTok. What is the reason?

The European Union has launched an official investigation into ByteDance’s TikTok. The bloc will check whether the platform violated the rules on online content aimed at protecting children and ensuring transparent advertising, writes Reuters.

EU Commissioner Thierry Breton said that this decision was made after analyzing TikTok’s risk assessment report and responses to information requests. In view of this, the compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA) Annex will be checked.

“Today we open an investigation into TikTok over suspected breach of transparency & obligations to protect minors: addictive design & screen time limits, rabbit hole effect, age verification, default privacy settings,” he noted.

As you know, the DSA has been applied to all online platforms since February 17. The law requires very large platforms and search engines to make more efforts to combat illegal online content and risks to public safety.

TikTok’s owner, the Chinese company ByteDance, could face fines of up to 6% of its global turnover if TikTok is found guilty of violating DSA rules.

TikTok said it will continue to work with experts and the industry to ensure the safety of young people on its platform, and that it hopes to explain this work to the European Commission.