The European Commission (the “Commission”) has opened a second formal proceeding against Tik Tok, under the Digital Services Act (“DSA”) to assess whether TikTok may have violated the DSA by launching TikTok Lite in France and Spain the last month.
The Commission is concerned that the TikTok Lite "Tasks and Rewards Programme", which allows users to earn points by performing certain "tasks" on TikTok - such as watching videos, liking content, following creators, inviting friends to join TikTok, etc. - has been launched without a diligent prior assessment of the risks involved, in particular those related to the addictive effect of the platforms and without effective risk mitigation measures.
Furthermore, the lack of effective age verification mechanisms and the suspected addictive design of the platforms are already under investigation in the first formal proceedings against TikTok.
We should remember that under the DSA, designated Very Large Online Platforms (as Tik Tok) are obliged to submit a risk assessment report, including measures to mitigate any potential systemic risks, prior to launching any new functionalities that are likely to have a critical impact on their systemic risks.
In case TikTok fails to reply to the Commission's request for information by decision within the indicated deadlines, the Commission may impose fines up to 1% of the provider's total annual income or worldwide turnover and periodic penalties up to 5 % of the provider's average daily income or worldwide annual turnover.