Meta and TikTok have been found by the European Union to breach transparency. In addition, Australia will ban social media which includes both Meta and TikTok’s platforms for users under 16 by December 10 due to concerns about children’s mental health.
The Digital Services Act requires social media and search engines to have filters or measures to prevent the spread of illegal and harmful content, but the EU claimed TikTok breached the DSA by restricting access to platform data. Transparency obligations are viewed as essential, but since researchers were unable to retrieve this information, TikTok is believed to have breached the DSA.
Meta’s Facebook and Instagram has been found to not provide a user-friendly way to flag illegal content such as child sexual abuse and terrorist content. This alone should already raise concern to all parties involved, including the consumer. If the findings are confirmed, TikTok could be fined up to 6% of annual global sales.
Australia will be enforcing a social media ban to all users under 16. A fine up to $49.5 million could be placed on those who oppose the attempt to avoid the ban. Platforms that will be affected by the ban argue that the younger audience will be driven to more dangerous sites on the internet after the ban. While Meta and TikTok are against the ban, they will still be complying with the law.
TikTok holds around 200,000 accounts with users under the age of 16, but an automated behavior-tracking software will be used to determine if the user is truly underage. Users incorrectly identified will be able to use a third-party tool in order to verify their age.
