The European Commission maintains that minors were left visible to strangers and is demanding changes to settings.
The European Commission has opened a new front against TikTok regarding alleged failures to protect minors on the platform. The European body has preliminarily accused the social network of violating the Digital Services Act by allowing the accounts of children and adolescents to be exposed to strangers.
The investigation could result in a fine of up to 6% of the annual global turnover of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance.
The case focuses on the platform’s privacy settings and the mechanisms that allow underage users to have publicly visible profiles. According to Brussels, this situation could increase the risks of harassment, unwanted contact, and exposure to individuals with malicious intent.
Brussels demands greater protection by default
The European Commission noted that some adolescents can set their accounts to public, allowing anyone to access their content—even without being registered on the platform.
Furthermore, it pointed out that even on private accounts, certain elements remain visible—such as lists of followers and the users they follow—while profile pictures may remain accessible to third parties.
Henna Virkkunen, the EU official responsible for technology, stated that digital platforms must incorporate child safety into their initial design rather than relying on users to activate such features voluntarily.
Brussels has called on TikTok to change the default settings for minors’ accounts so that content visibility is limited to people authorized by the adolescents themselves.
It also demanded that posts by minors not be recommended in the “For You” feed and that they not be able to reach a global audience outside the platform.
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