Yesterday, the European Commission launched a second formal procedure against TikTok under the Digital Services Act. The proceedings launched are to assess whether the launch of TikTok Lite in France and Spain may infringe the Digital Services Act. Under the act, those designated as “very large online platforms” are required to submit a risk assessment report and mitigation measures for any systemic risks, before introducing new features that may have a critical impact on their systemic risks.

The Commission is concerned that TikTok Lite’s Task and Reward Program, which allows users to earn points when they perform certain “tasks” on TikTok—such as watching videos, liking content, ”, follow creators, invite friends to subscribe to TikTok, etc.—began without prior careful assessment of the associated risks and without effective mitigation measures being taken, especially given the addictive nature of the platforms. This is particularly concerning when it comes to children, given the alleged absence of effective age verification mechanisms on TikTok. The lack of effective age verification mechanisms and the platforms’ alleged addictive design are already being investigated in the first official proceedings against TikTok.

Nikos Andritsos