The EU preliminarily found TikTok at fault in exposing minors to danger online on Friday (24 July), with issues with the Chinese social media giant’s account settings possibly to result in a fine.
TikTok is under investigation for the privacy settings of its 13-18 year old users, with the European Commission arguing that the Chinese firm is in breach of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Minors above 15-years old can choose whether their account stays private, but those choosing to have a public account would have their content visible globally, even to those without a TikTok account.
Users aged between 13 and 15 are also at risk despite default private settings, which the commission attributes to DSA efforts. Yet the commission took issue with the platform’s design choices, allowing the display of profile picture of under 15s even while an account is private.
The minimum age necessary to make a TikTok account is 13.
