The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) has lodged with the European Commission and the bloc’s network of consumer protection authorities a complaint against the video-sharing site, while consumer organisations in 15 countries have alerted their national authorities and urged them to investigate the social media giant’s conduct, BEUC said.
The complaints include claims of unfair terms, including in relation to copyright and TikTok’s virtual currency; concerns around the type of content children are being exposed to on the platform; and accusations of misleading data processing and privacy practices.
On child safety, the report accuses TikTok of failing to protect children and teenagers from hidden advertising and “potentially harmful” content on its platform.
TikTok has already faced a regulatory intervention in Italy this year in response to child safety concerns — in that instance after the death of a 10-year-old girl in the country. Local media had reported that the child died of asphyxiation after participating in a “black out” challenge on TikTok — triggering the emergency intervention by the DPA.
Soon afterwards TikTok agreed to reissue an age gate to verify the age of every user in Italy, although the check merely asks the user to input a date to confirm their age, so seems trivially easy to circumvent.
And while it notes TikTok’s privacy policy claims the service is “not directed at children under the age of 13” the report cites a number of studies that found heavy use of TikTok by children under 13 — with BEUC suggesting that children in fact make up “a very big part” of TikTok’s user base.