On Monday 19 February, the European Commission announced that it had opened an investigation to determine whether the social network TikTok had breached the rules of the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 13352/7). This procedure follows a preliminary investigation carried out since September 2023 into the measures put in place by the Chinese company in terms of risk assessment, management of illegal content, protection of minors and access to data, the conclusions of which did not convince the Commission’s services (see EUROPE 13289/6).
“We are launching this formal infringement procedure today to ensure that proportionate measures are taken to protect the physical and emotional well-being of young Europeans”, commented Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.
Specifically, the investigation will focus on the risks in terms of actual or foreseeable negative effects, such as addiction, arising from the design of the TikTok system (article 34 of the DSA), in particular the algorithmic design, as well as the mitigation measures implemented (article 35).
The Commission will also examine the measures put in place to guarantee, in accordance with the provisions of the DSA, a high level of confidentiality, safety and security for minors (article 28). The focus will be on the confidentiality settings activated by default for minors as part of the design and operation of their recommendation systems, as well as potential alleged breaches in researchers’ access to TikTok’s publicly accessible data (article 40).
Inspections and interviews should be carried out by the Commission and requests for additional information formulated. The DSA does not set a legal deadline for the duration of the investigation. This “depends on a number of factors, including the complexity of the case and the extent to which the company concerned cooperates with the Commission”, the Commission explained.
Other preliminary investigations have been opened by the Commission in recent months, including into X (formerly Twitter) (see EUROPE 13271/13), Meta (see EUROPE 13275/4), Alphabet (see EUROPE 13271/14) and AliExpress (see EUROPE 13286/8). (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)