TikTok Fails to Meet EU Regulations in ‘Stress Test’
The European Union’s governing body has conducted a test revealing that TikTok is not fully adhering to the upcoming regulations regarding content.
European Union Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton and his team conducted a so-called stress test at TikTok’s Dublin offices on Monday, according to the official, who noted that more work is needed for the EU’s digital services. The deadline for compliance with the law is August 25.
“Recent events have shown the influence and impact TikTok has on people’s lives and democracies,” Breton said. TikTok counts more than a quarter of Europe’s population as users, Breton said, and most of them are teenagers. “If its systems fail, the consequences could be dramatic.”
The popular music video app, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd., is one of the major internet platforms that have to comply with a long list of moderation rules or face heavy fines or outright bans from EU countries. The test covered, among other things, child protection, TikTok’s content recommendation system and moderation, illegal online content, data use and transparency. Breton praised TikTok’s voluntary agreement to conduct the test and the resources it is committing to comply — a slight change in tone from previous discussions.
After a video call with TikTok’s CEO in January, Breton said it was unacceptable that users of the platform could access “harmful and sometimes even life-threatening content” in a matter of seconds. Breton told Shou Zi Chew that TikTok is one of the commission’s first targets for DSA scrutiny, Bloomberg reported.
TikTok, which has more than a billion users worldwide, still faces potential bans in its most important markets. In addition to the review in the EU, US lawmakers have proposed several bills that could block the app, and the federal government still has an outstanding privacy review of its privacy practices. In the EU and US, the company has drawn up plans to isolate data from local servers and hire domestic partners to oversee its data access controls.
Breton said now is “the time to accelerate to be fully compliant. In late August, we’ll assess whether the real, tangible changes have materialized in the fundamentals.
