The European Union launches a formal inquiry into the TikTok app.
The investigation's goal, according to the European Commission, the EU's executive body, is to confirm whether the TikTok platform infringes on the Digital Services Act, or DSA as it is sometimes abbreviated.
The investigation will examine whether the platform's overall design and algorithms "may induce behavioral addiction" or lead to what are known as "rabbit quarry" effects — a term that describes the phenomenon of searching for a topic online, constantly finding more relevant content about it, and spending a significant amount of Time on the platform. This is according to the official statement issued by the European Commission.
The European Commission wants to know if TikTok's age verification features prevent minors from accessing dangerous content and if the platform's design poses a risk to youngsters.
The inquiry will also examine the efficacy of TikTok's privacy and security measures, as well as whether the platform complies with the Digital Services Act's advertising regulations.
In addition to conducting interviews and initiating inspections, the European Commission says it will keep requesting additional information from the platform as part of the probe.
The Commission did not specify the conclusion date of the probe, and the platform might face steep financial penalties if it turned up evidence of breaking EU legislation.
According to statements made by the platform's official spokesperson to the TechCrunch technological website, TikTok was a pioneer in the development of settings and features that safeguard teens and prevent users under the age of 13 from using the service.
The platform will remain working with specialists to keep young people safe on TikTok, the official spokesman continued, and the platform will provide the Commission with a detailed explanation of this work.
In September 2023, TikTok was fined $368 million by the Irish Data Protection Commission for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union by failing to process minors' personal data on the platform.
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