TikTok mentioned on Wednesday that it is halting a characteristic on its new app rewarding customers in Europe for watching movies, after going through stress from regulators nervous about its addictive options.
The corporate backed down days after the European Union warned that the TikTok Lite app may need breached the 27-nation bloc’s digital laws when it launched earlier this month. The EU’s govt Fee threatened to order the suspension of options that pose a danger to children.
TikTok at all times seeks to have interaction constructively with the EU Fee and different regulators,” it mentioned in a put up on social media platform X. “We’re subsequently voluntarily suspending the rewards capabilities in TikTok Lite whereas we tackle the issues that they’ve raised.
TikTok Lite, which was rolled out in France and Spain, is a slimmed-down model of the principle TikTok app that lets customers earn rewards. Factors earned by watching movies, liking content material and following content material creators can then be exchanged for rewards together with Amazon vouchers and reward playing cards on PayPal.
EU officers warned earlier this week that TikTok may face an order as early as Thursday to droop the reward options. That they had demanded the corporate flip over details about the app, together with a danger evaluation that ought to have been carried out earlier than the app was rolled out, beneath risk of hefty monetary penalties.
Our youngsters will not be guinea pigs for social media, European Commissioner Thierry Breton mentioned in a social media put up responding to the announcement.
He famous that major TikTok app faces EU scrutiny within the type of a separate ongoing in-depth investigation into its compliance with the bloc’s Digital Providers Act. Brussels is analyzing whether or not TikTok is doing sufficient to curb systemic dangers stemming from its design, together with algorithmic programs which may stimulate behavioural addictions.
Workplaces are nervous that measures together with age verification instruments to cease minors from discovering inappropriate content material won’t be efficient.
(Solely the headline and movie of this report could have been reworked by the Enterprise Normal employees; the remainder of the content material is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Revealed: Apr 24 2024 | 10:30 PM IST