TikTok might have failed to meet EU standards for child safety online.
Allowing content posted by minors to be pushed on the ‘For You’ feed on TikTok could be a violation of the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Commission has said.
On TikTok, minors can choose to have a public-facing profile. According to the EU’s preliminary findings, this setting enables content published by 16 and 17 year-olds to be algorithmically recommended worldwide.
Exposure like this could result in unwanted contact from bad actors or increase the risk of cyberbullying, the EU said.
The Commission launched formal proceedings into TikTok’s compliance with the DSA in early 2024, which also probed the platform’s potential addictive design and access to data, and resulted in negative preliminary results.
