Legislators in the United States are facing legal challenges as they attempt to regulate TikTok, but overseas, the European Commission is continuing to keep watch on the biggest social media platforms. The executive organ of the European Union has asked TikTok and YouTube to share the systems they have put in place to protect minors.
On November 8, E.U. industry chief Thierry Breton told Reuters that he would send requests for information to both TikTok and YouTube. Those two recipients are expected to comply with the Digital Services Act, a landmark law that requires tech companies to remove harmful content on their platforms.
Among other stipulations, the Digital Services Act contains several rules related to the safety of minors and the ads those users are exposed to. Companies that fail to provide appropriate safeguards could face fines as high as 6% of their global turnover, according to Reuters.
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Both TikTok and YouTube have already received fines due to child safety concerns on their respective platforms. Both companies have taken strides to improve user safety in recent years, but the E.U.’s list of complaints doesn’t end there. Breton met with Shou Zi Chew earlier this week and urged the TikTok CEO to “spare no effort” to counter misinformation. Amidst an outburst of violence in the Middle East, TikTok has been accused of having a pro-Palestine bias.
The E.U. rulebook could also play a role in an ongoing dispute centered on YouTube. After years of tacit support for ad blockers, the Google-owned platform has started cracking down on them. While some users uninstall their ad-blocking extensions, others are wondering whether a court will rule in their favor. Digital privacy campaign Alexander Hanff has filed a complaint in which he argues that YouTube’s ad blocker detection software violates user privacy — and, by extension, E.U. law.
“AdBlock detection scripts are spyware — there is no other way to describe them and as such it is not acceptable to deploy them without consent,” Hanff told The Verge. “I consider any deployment of technology which can be used to spy on my devices is both unethical and illegal in most situations.”
The court case may be a long shot, but European regulators are doing what they can to keep YouTube and TikTok in check. The platforms have until November 30 to respond to Breton’s privacy inquiry.
