Leading academic institutions are expressing interest in studying user behavior on TikTok as its popularity continues to grow. While the company publicly claims to be open to such research and is collaborating with academics, researchers have found the video app’s data regulations to be excessively demanding. TikTok is making the application programming interface, or API, open for researchers to analyze the platform’s data. But the terms of service are so strict that researchers at leading institutions say they are hesitant to accept them. The difficulty in investigating TikTok is also…

TikTok has been slapped with a hefty 345-million-euro ($369-million) penalty by Irish regulators for data breaches. This move is just one aspect of the ongoing conflict between the European Union and major tech companies, encompassing concerns ranging from tax evasion and hate speech to safeguarding user data and monopolistic behavior. Here’s a summary of the fights between the tech giants and Brussels. – Privacy – Ireland imposes the toughest fines in this area because Dublin is home to the European offices of several major tech companies and local regulators oversee…

The European commissioner responsible for the digital market has called on TikTok, the Chinese video-sharing platform, to speed up its implementation of the latest EU standards. Strict new European rules on transparency, data protection, child protection, disinformation and hate speech come into effect next month, and internet giants are racing to comply. On Monday, TikTok conducted a “stress test” of its systems at its European headquarters in Dublin to determine whether it could adapt to the EU’s digital services law. Later, European Commissioner Thierry Breton called TikTok CEO Shou Zi…