BRUSSELS — The European Commission recently announced that TikTok has failed to adequately safeguard the privacy rights of children on its platform, allowing adults to access the accounts of minors.
This lapse could expose children to issues like cyberbullying, unwanted attention, and predatory behavior, according to spokesperson Thomas Regnier.
He emphasized that “children’s content must never be visible to strangers,” highlighting concerns about minors being easily able to switch their accounts from private to public. Additionally, private accounts of those aged 16 to 17 can still be viewed by anyone online. Regnier stated, “We do not accept this,” and noted that the default settings for minors need to enforce effective privacy measures, not just look good on paper.
This investigation follows a wave of regulatory actions targeting major tech companies in Brussels, where regulators have taken a firm stance against giants like Meta and Apple.
TikTok now has the opportunity to respond to these findings. If the European Commission is not satisfied with the company’s reply, it could lead to a non-compliance decision and possibly a fine of up to 6% of TikTok’s total annual revenue.
The firm, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, stated that it will review the findings and aims to “engage constructively with the Commission.” TikTok expressed commitment to improving its online safety measures for minors, saying protecting them is a shared goal.
According to the commission, a significant portion of TikTok’s 170 million users in the EU are children, with about 7% of users aged 12 to 15 reportedly spending four to five hours daily on the app.
In February, the 27-nation European Union found that TikTok had violated another rule concerning “addictive design” features, such as autoplay and infinite scrolling, which can be detrimental to both physical and mental health, particularly for younger users.
