EU to review TikTok’s terms of service after child safety complaints – TechCrunch

TikTok has one month to respond to concerns raised by European consumer protection agencies earlier this year. Said today …

The Commission has launched what is called a ‘formal dialogue’ on trade practices and policies with video-sharing platforms.

Areas of particular concern, according to the Commission, include covert marketing, aggressive advertising methods for children, and specific TikTok policies which may be viewed as misleading and confusing to consumers. Includes terms and conditions.

Attorney General Didier Rinders said in a statement: “The current pandemic is accelerating digitization. This created new opportunities, but also created new risks, especially for vulnerable consumers. The European Union prohibits targeting children and minors with false advertisements such as banners in videos. The dialogue that begins today complies with EU rules for TikTok to protect consumers. Should support you.

In the background February The European Consumers’ Organization (BEUC) sent the Commission a report highlighting a number of TikTok policies and practices. He also highlighted the risk of children being exposed to inappropriate content on the platform and accused TikTok of deceptive data processing and privacy practices.

Consumer groups from 15 EU countries lodged complaints at the same time, calling on national authorities to investigate the behavior of the social media giants.

The multifaceted action of the EU is not only that TikTok examines the details of its small runs, not only the committee, but also consumers across the country, under the joint leadership of the Swedish Consumer Agency and Irish competitors. This means that you are faced with a question from a network of protection authorities. Consumer Protection Commission (which deals with privacy issues related to the platform).

However, BEUC asked why the Commission had not yet started a formal enforcement procedure.

“”We hope that the authorities will stick to their guns in this “dialogue”, but we understand that we are not yet the official start of the enforcement process. It must address all the points raised by BEUC and lead to good results for consumers. BEUC also wishes to be consulted before reaching an agreement, ”a spokesperson for the organization told us.

Also, for comment, TikTok sent the following statement on the actions of the Commission, due to Caroline Greer, Public Policy Officer.

“As part of our continued engagement with regulators and other external stakeholders on issues such as consumer protection and transparency, we are working on a dialogue between the Irish Consumer Protection Commission and the Swedish Consumer Affairs Agency. consumption. We look forward to discussing what we are already doing. Introduced. Additionally, we keep all accounts under the age of 16 private by default, disable direct messaging access, and more. We have taken many measures to protect young users. Additionally, users under the age of 18 cannot purchase, send, or receive virtual gifts and advertisements that are of direct interest to users under the age of digital consent. There is a strict no-go policy. “

The company said it uses age verification for personalized ads. Users should ensure that they are at least 13 years old to receive these ads. Also, in their respective EU countries. Be past the age of digital consent. You also agree to receive targeted advertising.

However, TikTok’s age verification technology has long been criticized for its vulnerability. Recent emergency enforcement measures focus on child safety According to the Italian national data protection agency, TikTok has pledged to strengthen its national age verification process.

Italy’s Enforcement Measures Also TikTok Removes Over 500,000 Accounts Earlier this month we suspected that we were from users under the age of 13, further asking if we can truly claim that users under the age of 13 are not systematically exposed to targeted advertising on the platform.

TikTok claimed to have a clear label on sponsored content. However, he also mentioned some recent changes, such as changing the wording applied to video ads from “sponsor” to “ad” to make it clearer.

We also want users who may be exposed to advertisements by other users to be clearer by allowing others to clearly disclose that their content contains advertisements. He said he was also working on the targeted seesaw.

According to TikTok, the tool is currently in beta testing in Europe, but will generally be available this summer, and ToS requires users to use this toggle whenever their content contains ads. Is declared fixed. (However, without proper application, it can be overlooked and easily abused.)

The company recently announced the European Transparency Center. This initiative aims to address some of the concerns raised regarding operations in the region and prepare for increased surveillance of all digital platforms operating in the EU. I go. Update the digital rulebook.