TikTok Targeted with Children Protection, Data Security Complaints Across Europe

15:28 GMT 16.02.2021Get short URL

The spokesperson of TikTok said that complying with the laws where the company operates is the responsibility it takes “very seriously”.

A round of regulatory complaints against an immensely popular video-app TikTok has been lodged in Europe. European consumer group BEUC and 17 consumer groups across Europe have launched an action, in which BEUC had lodged a complaint against the platform with the European Commission and the network of consumer protection authorities, and consumer organisations in 15 countries have alerted their national authorities calling for investigations into the app’s conduct.

The complaints are pointing at issues with copyright, data protection, age of TikTok’s audience, the type of content the youngest part of this audience are exposed to, the platform’s virtual currency and misleading data processing and privacy practices.

BEUC released two reports, describing in detail the issues associated with the complaints. One report describes the platform’s consumer protection issues and the other covers privacy and data protection.

“They are unclear, ambiguous and favour TikTok to the detriment of its users. Its copyright terms are equally unfair as they give TikTok an irrevocable right to use, distribute and reproduce the videos published by users, without remuneration,” it said.

It is said in the reports that the company’s virtual item policy where users can purchase coins to use for virtual gifts in TikTok, contains unfair terms and misleading practices.

BEUC also says that “TikTok fails to protect children and teenagers from hidden advertising and potentially harmful content on its platform”.

The consumer group also points out that TikTok “disclaims any responsibility over the security of personal data as it is transmitted on platform”. “Anecdotal evidence suggests considerable disregard of the data protection by design requirement in the past”, it says.

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“In just a few years, TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps with millions of users across Europe. But TikTok is letting its users down by breaching their rights on a massive scale. We have discovered a whole series of consumer rights infringements and therefore filed a complaint against TikTok,” Director General of BEUC Monique Goyens said in a statement.

The platform’s spokesman has commented on the matter, saying that the company is “always open to hearing how we can improve,” adding that it had contacted BEUC for a meeting “to listen to their concerns”. The company also said it had developed a summary of its privacy policy to make it easier for teens to understand.

Trouble on the other continent

The video-sharing app owned by China’s ByteDance meanwhile is trying to stay afloat in the United States, as the prospects for the company’s business are still covered in mist.

The trouble began under the previous US administration when Donald Trump waged a trade war against China. Washington back then targeted ByteDance and WeChat’s owner Tencent as well as dozens of other Chinese tech companies including big brands like Huawei, ZTE, SMIC, and Xiaomi over alleged national security concerns, even designating some of them as national security risks.

Washington alleged that the private data of Americans were exposed through TikTok for ByteDance to share without permission with the ruling Chinese Communist Party and subject to further abuse. ByteDance and the US executives at TikTok have repeatedly denied the claims. Trump forced upon the company the TikTok US operations to a group that includes Walmart and Oracle, which ByteDance Ltd. managed to suspend with legal challenges to the US government.

The fate of the app is still hung, however, as the spokeswoman of the new administration said that the Biden administration, is conducting a review on the matter that has expanded beyond TikTok, offering no timetable.