The European Commission says TikTok's account settings expose minors to predators and cyberbullying, risking a fine of up to 6% of global revenue
Bing Guan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
TikTok faces preliminary charges from European Union regulators over account settings that the commission says expose children to predators, cyberbullying, and unwanted contact, putting the ByteDance-owned platform at risk of a fine worth up to 6% of its global annual revenue.
The European Commission said Friday that TikTok's settings fall short of the safety standards required under the Digital Services Act. The commission found that minors can set their accounts to public, allowing anyone — including people without a TikTok account — to view their content. For users between 16 and 17 years old, public settings also allow their content to appear in other users' For You feeds, the commission said.
Even children with private accounts are not fully shielded, the commission said. Their accounts can be located through the follower and following lists of other users, and their profile photos remain visible to anyone outside the platform.
The commission said TikTok should change the default settings of minors' public accounts so that content is visible only to users the minor has accepted. Content from minors should under no circumstances be accessible to a global audience outside the platform, and TikTok should stop recommending minors' content through the For You feed, the commission said.
In response, TikTok said it would examine the commission's findings. "Teen accounts on TikTok have more than 50 preset privacy and safety features, informed by experts, from the moment they set up an account," the company said. "Under 18 accounts are private by default and we are one of the only platforms where younger teens cannot use direct messaging or have their content eligible to appear in the For You feed," it added, according to Reuters.
Henna Virkkunen, the E.U.'s tech chief, said in a statement that the law demands services be built with child safety baked into their architecture rather than treated as an optional feature. "A high level of protection should not be an opt-in; it should be the default," she said.
TikTok may now inspect the commission's investigation files before any decision is issued and submit a formal written response. The European Board for Digital Services will also be consulted. Should the commission ultimately issue a non-compliance ruling, it said any resulting penalty would have to reflect the seriousness, frequency, and length of the infringement.
Friday's charges are the fourth set of preliminary findings against TikTok under the DSA in roughly two years, according to Reuters. Earlier this year, the commission announced a separate set of preliminary findings targeting TikTok's use of engagement-maximizing mechanics such as autoplay and infinite scrolling, which regulators described as harmful to users' wellbeing. In two earlier cases the company made concessions that headed off potential penalties, and a fourth case is still pending resolution.
The formal investigation into TikTok's DSA compliance was launched in February 2024 and has also examined the platform's recommender systems and the risk of minors encountering age-inappropriate content through misrepresented ages, the commission said. Those aspects of the investigation remain ongoing.
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