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BEUC DENOUNCES TIKTOK FOR MISLEADING MINORS AND VIOLATING EU DATA PROTECTION LAWS

The European Consumer Organisation (BEUC in French) together with 17 other organisations from 15 European countries are asking the European Union to initiate an investigation into the TikTok social network for multiple infringements of EU consumer law.

The trendy social network, TIKTOK, created by Chinese developer ByteDance has 800 million active users worldwide and is very popular among children and teenagers. In a 4-point press release, BEUC accuses tiktok of violating consumer rights in the EU.

BEUC’s claim that TikTok commits multiple rights violations and does not protect children from hidden advertising and inappropriate content. In the statement he details that TikTok’s "Terms of Service" points are not clear, but are ambiguous and disadvantageous to the user such as giving TikTok the irrevocable right to use, distribute and play videos created by users without pay and freely.

Regarding advertising within the application, according to BEUC, advertising is hidden. Through trends, hashtags or challenges created by advertising brands, users are motivated to participate by encouraging them to buy certain products without any filtering, contributing to hidden marketing and receiving subliminal advertising.

He also points out that TikTok is not protecting minors from inappropriate content, for example videos with suggestive content, from mistreatment, dangerous challenges, such as the Italian minor who died for imitating a challenge that consisted of self-drowning until losing consciousness.

Finally, they state that TikTok’s practices for the processing of personal data are misleading, as they do not inform their users about what personal data is collected, its purpose and the legal reason.

The CEO of BEUC says: "With this action, BEUC and its members want the authorities to launch a comprehensive investigation into Tik Tok’s policies and practices and to ensure that TikTok respects the rights of EU consumers."

February 25th, 2021
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