The European Commission announced Friday, July 24, that it has found TikTok failed to adequately protect the privacy rights of children on its platform by allowing adults to view the accounts of minors. According to the commission, these vulnerabilities have exposed children to predatory behavior, unwanted contact, and cyberbullying.
The findings are the result of an investigation into whether the Chinese social media platform meets the safety standards established by the Digital Services Act (DSA). Thomas Regnier, a spokesperson for the European Commission, stated that children’s content must never be visible to strangers.
Deficiencies in Account Settings
While the European Commission acknowledged that TikTok has some default settings for minors, it concluded they are not effective enough. Currently, children aged 13 to 15 are assigned private accounts by default, while those aged 16 to 17 can choose between public or private accounts. However, Regnier noted that children aged 13 to 15 can “easily” change their profiles from private to public.
Furthermore, the commission stated it does not accept that public accounts held by minors aged 16 to 17 can be seen by anyone on the internet, including those without a TikTok account. Henna Virkkunen, the Executive Vice-President for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, emphasized that a high level of protection should be the default rather than an opt-in feature, stating that platforms must build protections for minors into the design of their services.
Proposed Remedial Actions
Based on its preliminary findings, the commission has drawn three conclusions regarding how TikTok should adjust its operations:
- TikTok should adjust default settings for minors’ “public” accounts so content is visible only to users the minor has accepted.
- Content from 16- and 17-year-olds should not be accessible to a global audience outside the platform, even if they choose to share with a broader audience on the app.
- The platform should stop recommending the content of minors to other users via the For You Feed.
These conclusions are preliminary and do not prejudge the final outcome. TikTok has been given the opportunity to examine the investigation files and respond in writing to the findings.
Potential Penalties and Legal Context
If the European Commission is unsatisfied with TikTok’s response, it may issue a non-compliance decision. This could result in a fine of up to 6% of the company’s total annual global revenue. TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is based in Beijing, stated it would review the findings and continue to engage constructively with the Commission.
This investigation follows other regulatory actions in the EU. In February, the 27-nation European Union found that TikTok breached its digital rule book due to an addictive design
involving infinite scrolling and autoplay features, which officials said could harm the mental and physical health of users, particularly minors. The commission estimates that most of TikTok’s 170 million EU users are children, with 7% of those aged 12 to 15 spending four to five hours daily on the app.
