TikTok EU child safety scrutiny escalated on July 24 after the European Commission said the video app’s protections for minors should be built into default account settings, not left for teenagers to switch on themselves. The Commission issued preliminary findings under the Digital Services Act, pointing to specific ways it says TikTok should reduce exposure for young users.
The Commission’s main complaint is about visibility. It said TikTok should change the default settings for minors’ public accounts so content they post can be seen only by TikTok users the teen has chosen to share it with. The Commission also said that content should not be recommended to other users in the app’s For You feed.
The concern is not limited to accounts marked public. According to the Commission, even private accounts can be easy to find through other users’ following lists, and profile photos can be viewed by anyone. That turns account privacy into a weaker shield than the settings label suggests, which is exactly the kind of product-design gap regulators like to circle in red pen.
What did the EU say about TikTok child safety?
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in the Commission’s announcement that minors should have a safe online experience from the moment they go online. She said the Digital Services Act requires platforms to design protections for minors into their services and holds them accountable when they do not.
Virkkunen also said a high level of protection should be the default, not an opt-in choice. That framing puts the pressure on TikTok’s defaults, recommendation system, and account-discovery mechanics, rather than on whether a teenager can find the right privacy toggle after creating an account.
What could happen to TikTok under the Digital Services Act?
The Commission’s findings are preliminary, so they are not a final ruling that TikTok has broken the law. They do, however, lay out the issues the company is expected to address. If TikTok does not satisfy the Commission’s concerns, it could face a Digital Services Act non-compliance decision.
That decision could carry fines of up to 6 percent of the company’s global annual revenue, according to the Commission. The figure is the regulatory stick behind what otherwise sounds like a fight over settings menus and recommendation defaults.
What is the Digital Services Act?
The Digital Services Act is the European Union’s platform rulebook for online services. In this case, the Commission says it requires platforms to build protections for minors into the design of their products, including how accounts, visibility, and recommendations work.
The EU action also lands as TikTok faces separate pressure in the UK. Communications regulator Ofcom opened a similar child safety investigation into TikTok last week, with updates expected in October.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
