Brussels opened an investigation on Thursday into the measures applied by the TikTok social network and the website for share YouTube videos to protect minors, in particular their “mental and physical health”.
The European Commission announced in a statement that it had asked companies “to provide more information on the measures they adopted to fulfill their obligations regarding the protection of minors” within the framework of the new EU legislation on digital services (DSA), which came into force effective at the end of August.
These requests do not constitute a challenge at the moment.
This is a first step in procedures that can lead to serious financial penalties in the event of proven and prolonged violations of the regulations.
In extreme cases, fines can reach 6 percent of the global turnover of the groups involved.
“TikTok and YouTube “They must provide the requested information to the commission no later than November 30, 2023. Based on the evaluation of the responses, the commission will determine the steps to follow,” he added.
Thursday’s announcement is part of a turn of the screw led by the European Commissioner for Digital, Thierry Bretonto force large platforms to respect the new obligations imposed on them.
“The protection of children will be a priority” in the implementation of the DSA, he warned in August.
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Brussels already announced three surveys aimed at social networks in October TikTok (owned by the Chinese group ByteDance), X (former Twitter) and Meta (parent company of Facebook and Instagram) to ask for details on the measures applied against the dissemination of “false information”, violent images and speeches, following the Hamas attacks against Israel.