In a groundbreaking case in Europe, video platform TikTok has agreed to permanently remove a controversial feature that regulators say can be addictive and harmful to young people’s mental health.
In the first case closed under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), the Chinese company said it would suspend the rewards program indefinitely. “TikTok Lite” appa less data-intensive version of the main product launched earlier this year in France and Spain.
TikTok has also pledged not to relaunch the rewards program under a different name.
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At the same time, the company has not admitted any wrongdoing and will not be fined, under what is described as an “undertaking” settlement under the DSA.
“The available brain time of young Europeans is not a currency for social media – and it never will be,” said Thierry Breton, the European Union’s internal market director, as he announced the deal on Monday.
“We have obtained the permanent revocation of the TikTok Lite rewards program, which could have had highly addictive consequences. The DSA is in full swing.”
In April, the European Commission an investigation started investigated whether the program led to minors becoming addicted to the short video platform.
The “Task and Reward Programme” allowed users to earn points by watching videos, liking content, following creators and inviting friends to join TikTok, but the commission saw this as potentially “rewarding excessive screen time” among minors.
“The rewards scheme, which may encourage addictive behaviour, could potentially have negative effects on the physical and mental health of users. This is particularly worrying for minors, who may be more sensitive to such features,” the commission said.
After the commission launched its investigation, TikTok suspended the program in the two countries – France and Spain – where it was already active.
According to Commission sources, Brussels has been working closely with regulators in those two countries and with Ireland, where TikTok’s European headquarters are located.
The sources said there was no admission of guilt from TikTok, which is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance – they were pleased with how quickly the 105-day process was completed. If the case had gone to court, or if a fine had been necessary, it would have been a longer process.
A separate DSA investigation, launched in February, is ongoing.
This study examines whether TikTok’s main app algorithm is intentionally designed to create “rabbit hole effects” that lead to “behavioral addictions.”
TikTok is not the only Chinese company in the sights of digital regulators in Brussels. Online marketplace AliExpress is also the subject of an investigation, while fast-fashion retailer Shein was recently designated a “very large online platform”, making it vulnerable to surveillance in an area that has quickly become a new tension in tense EU-China relations.
AliExpress is owned by Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post.
Chinese companies are also the target of a series of trade and competition investigations, as long-standing grievances over Beijing’s economic policies are prompting increasingly aggressive behaviour from EU regulators.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP)the most authoritative voice covering China and Asia for over a century. For more SCMP stories, explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP’s Facebook And Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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