By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A key feature of TikTok Lite may be suspended in the European Union on Thursday, the European Commission said, if TikTok does not provide a satisfactory response to regulators’ concerns about the new app’s impact on users’ mental health.
The move would be under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) which requires very large online platforms and big search engines to do more to tackle harmful and illegal content or risk fines of as much as 6% of their global annual turnover.
“Unless TikTok provides compelling proof of its safety, which it has failed to do until now, we stand ready to trigger DSA interim measures including the suspension of TikTok Lite feature which we suspect could generate addiction,” EU industry chief Thierry Breton said in a statement on Monday.
TikTok did not reply immediately to a request for comment.
Failure to respond to a Commission information request can lead to fines up to 1% of a company’s global annual turnover.
The EU executive said TikTok has 24 hours to provide a risk assessment report on TikTok Lite or face fines, and until May 3 to provide other requested information.
TikTok launched TikTok Lite in France and Spain this month but the Commission said it had not submitted a risk assessment report prior to that as required under the DSA.
Its key feature is a reward programme that allows users to earn points while performing certain tasks on the platform such as watching videos, liking content, following creators or inviting friends to join.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Jan Harvey and Alexander Smith)
