TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was warned by the EU commissioner Thierry Breton over a video call recently. The commissioner clearly stated that the EU will use all possible means to safeguard the privacy of its citizen and, if needed, will ban the app from the European Union.  EU wants TikTok to step up its act and comply with all the rules and regulations outlined in the Digital Services Act (DSA). 

DSA which came into force in November 2022, is considered a Gold Standard for content and internet platform governance. It provides for multiple deterring sanctions, including a ban in the EU for repeated breaches of the Act that can be a threat to the life and safety of EU citizens. Non-compliance with the DSA may lead to hefty fines of up to 6% of the annual global turnover of companies. 

Many provisions of the DSA only apply to platforms that have more than 45 million users in the EU. However, this threshold brings famous platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok under the purview of the Act.

TikTok was already discussing the policies on data safety, misinformation, and DSA compliance with the EU. Multiple meetings with the top brass of the company included topics like Child safety, Russian disinformation, transparency of paid political content, and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

In the latest video call, commissioner Breton told CEO Chew “We will not hesitate to adopt the full scope of sanctions to protect our citizens if audits do not show full compliance,”. He further said that “With younger audiences comes greater responsibility. It is not acceptable that behind seemingly fun and harmless features, it takes users seconds to access harmful and sometimes even life-threatening content”

With more than 3 billion downloads, TikTok is the number one app in the world and the most famous among youngsters. But its Chinese origin brings a lot of concerns, especially in privacy and data safety. TikTok which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance has been accused of data harvesting and reporting it back to Chinese authorities through its parent company. Other issues include addiction concerns, misinformation, content censorship, spying, cyberbullying, etc. 

The App is already banned in Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Azerbaijan. In the US, more than 20 states, the military, and congress have banned TikTok from government-issued devices.  A potential ban in the EU could be catastrophic for the app. 

TikTok Brussels director of public policy and government relations, Caroline Greer recently tweeted that it was a good exchange (of dialogue) between CEO Chew and Eu Commissioner. She said that the safety of users is paramount for TikTok.

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