EU warns TikTok Lite to show security for minors—or be suspended

Now, its sister app, TikTok Lite, is the brand new topic of scrutiny. 

The platform, a smaller-scale model of the ByteDance-owned TikTok launched in Spain and France final month, rewards customers with “points” for the time they spend watching or participating with movies. These factors can later be redeemed as vouchers or present playing cards. 

However European Union regulators assume the app was launched prematurely, with out contemplating the dangers it poses to youngsters, prompting a probe to be launched on Monday. 

The options on the short-video app are “toxic and addictive” for youthful customers, EU commissioner Thierry Breton mentioned in a put up on X. 

🚨We suspect #TikTokLite function to be poisonous & addictive, particularly for youngsters.

Until TikTok supplies compelling proof of security —which it didn’t do till now—we stand able to set off #DSA interim measures together with the #suspension of the TikTokLite “reward programme” pic.twitter.com/71neLMrkYy

— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) April 22, 2024

“Endless streams of short and fast-paced videos could be seen as fun, but also expose our children to risks of addiction, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, low attention spans,” Breton mentioned in an announcement. “We suspect TikTok ‘Lite’ could be as toxic and addictive as cigarettes ‘light’.” 

Whereas the app remains to be accessible, the EU Fee warned that until TikTok proves its new app is secure for minors, TikTok Lite may very well be suspended. It has till Could 3 to dispute the Fee’s probe and supply additional data on TikTok Lite.

The Chinese language-owned app was requested to supply a threat evaluation of its Lite app final week, which it didn’t do. 

If the social media app is discovered to violate the EU’s guidelines, it might face a hefty tremendous value as much as 6% of its annual international turnover. 

TikTok Lite is designed to make use of much less reminiscence in a smartphone and show content material even with a slower web connection, reducing the barrier for entry on the app. It’s, nonetheless, just for these aged 18 and above, and it units a day by day time restrict for the app’s utilization, representatives at TikTok informed Fortune in an announcement. 

“We are disappointed with this decision,” the spokesperson mentioned. 

EU is flexing its new muscle

The probe on TikTok comes simply days after the U.S. fast-tracked a regulation probably banning app within the nation over nationwide safety issues.

Brussels’ investigation into TikTok Lite marks the second by the bloc because it leans into the Digital Providers Act, a brand new regulation that permits it to control on-line platforms. In February, the EU mentioned it’d look into the ByteDance-owned firm’s breach of on-line content material guidelines, which additionally involved the safety of children.

TikTok is simply one of many many social media platforms, together with Fb, Instagram, and X, which can be required to adjust to the DSA, which took impact final August.

EU’s scrutiny of TikTok Lite is simply one other instance of how the bloc plans to prioritize minors’ security on-line. It might solely be the tip of the iceberg on the slew of potential actions in opposition to social media corporations, given the EU’s new DSA weapon. 

It’s unclear why TikTok didn’t present the requested data, but when it doesn’t adjust to the EU Fee’s request for information, it might see its latest enterprise stumble earlier than it even took off.