Earlier this month, Tiktok launched the Tiktok Lite app in France and Spain, where users can earn reward points for watching videos.
Social the media service Tiktok says that it will voluntarily suspend the reward program of the Tiktok Lite application while it tries to respond to the concerns of the EU, news agencies Reuters and AFP reported.
“Tiktok always strives for constructive cooperation with the EU Commission and other regulatory authorities. Therefore, we are voluntarily suspending Tiktok Lite's reward functions while we address the concerns they have raised,” the company told the messaging service in X.
The EU Commission had given Tiktok until Wednesday to respond, or the application would be banned. Concerns concern, for example, the impact of the reward program on users' mental health.
Tiktok released a version of its app in France and Spain earlier this month that rewards users for watching videos.
The application called Tiktok Lite includes a rewards program aimed at users over 18 years old, through which users can earn points by completing various tasks on the platform.
Points can be earned, for example, by watching videos, liking content or following other users. Earned points can be exchanged, for example, for Amazon discount coupons or Tiktok virtual coins.
Week then the EU Commission said that it had asked Tiktok to provide information within 24 hours on how the company has assessed the possible risks related to the rewards program and what measures it is taking to mitigate the risks.
The requirement specifically concerned a risk assessment of what kind of effects the reward program could have on users' mental health and addiction to the application.
However, Tiktok did not provide the information within the deadline.
According to the Commission, Tiktok should have done a risk assessment before launching the rewards program in the EU region. On Monday, the commission announced that it would start an official investigation into Tiktok under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
At issue is already the second official procedure against Tiktok under the digital services act.
In February, the commission announced that it had started a procedure to find out whether Tiktok violated regulations related to, among other things, the protection of minors, the transparency of advertising, and the risk management of the platform's addictive design and harmful content.
The Digital Services Act obliges large online platforms to, among other things, combat the spread of illegal content, online disinformation and other social risks. Violation of the digital services regulation can result in a fine, which can be a maximum of six percent of the company's global turnover.
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