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TikTok fined in Italy, leading to consumer safety investigation over 'French Scar' scandal

TechBrunchBy TechBrunchMarch 14, 20245 Mins Read
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Italy's competition and consumer authority AGCM has fined TikTok 10 million euros (approximately $11 million) following an investigation into concerns about algorithmic safety.

Last year, authorities launched an investigation into the so-called “French Scar” issue, in which users on the platform reportedly shared videos of marks on their faces from pinching their skin.

In a press release on Thursday, the AGCM said it had sanctioned three regional ByteDance Group companies, Ireland-based TikTok Technology Limited, TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited and TikTok Italy Srl, for what it summarized as “unfair commercial practices”. He announced that he had received it.

“The company has failed to put in place adequate mechanisms to monitor content published on its platform, particularly content that may threaten the safety of minors and vulnerable individuals. , are systematically re-suggested to users as a result of algorithmic profiling, facilitating their increasing use of social networks,” AGCM wrote.

After an investigation, authorities found that TikTok spreads content that “could threaten the mental and physical safety of users, especially if they are minors or vulnerable,” including videos related to the “French Scar” issue. It was confirmed that the person was responsible. It also said the platform was found to have failed to take adequate measures to prevent the spread of such content and did not fully comply with the platform's own guidelines.

The AGCM also criticized the way TikTok applied its guidelines, which it said were applied “without proper consideration of the unique vulnerabilities of young people.” For example, young people may be particularly at risk because their brains are still developing and they are more susceptible to peer pressure to imitate group behavior in order to fit in. he pointed out.

The authorities' statements specifically highlighted the role of TikTok's recommendation system in spreading “potentially dangerous” content, and the platform's efforts to drive engagement, increase user interaction and time spent on the service, and increase advertising revenue. Points out incentives. The system powers TikTok's “For You” and “Followed” feeds, which by default track users' digital activity and decide what content to show them based on their algorithmic profiling.

“This creates unfair conditioning for users who are increasingly stimulated to use the platform,” AGCM said in another statement, notable for criticizing the engagement facilitated by profiling-based content feeds. suggested it.

We asked the authorities questions. However, the negative assessment of the risks of algorithmic profiling seems interesting given new calls by some European lawmakers for profiling-based content feeds to be turned off by default.

Civil society organizations such as the ICCL have also argued that this would cut off the nefarious faucet of ad-funded social media platforms monetizing through engagement-driven recommendation systems, which divides for profit. It is argued that this has the side effect of amplifying the situation and undermining social cohesion.

TikTok is contesting AGCM's decision to impose a penalty.

In a statement, the platform said that by framing this intervention as related to a single controversial small-scale issue, the algorithmic risk assessment posed to minors and vulnerable individuals will be I tried to downplay it. Here's what TikTok told us:

We disagree with this decision. Before his AGCM announcement last year, his so-called “French Scar” content averaged just 100 searches per day in Italy. We long ago restricted this content to U18s and excluded it from the For You feed.

Although Italian enforcement is limited to one EU member state, the European Commission is responsible for overseeing TikTok's compliance with the algorithmic liability and transparency provisions of the pan-EU Digital Services Act (DSA) Penalties may be extended to up to six levels. % of annual worldwide sales. TikTok was designated as a very large platform under the DSA last April and is expected to become compliant by the end of the summer.

One notable change as a result of the DSA is that TikTok now provides users with a non-profiling-based feed. However, these alternative feeds are turned off by default. This means that you will continue to be subject to AI-based tracking and profiling unless you take action to turn it off.

Last month, the EU launched a formal investigation into TikTok, citing addictive design, harmful content, and the protection of minors as key areas of focus. That process is still ongoing.

TikTok said it looks forward to the opportunity to provide a detailed explanation to the European Commission on its approach to protecting minors.

However, the company has had several run-ins with local enforcement authorities concerned about child safety in recent years, including a child protection intervention by Italy's data protection authority. Last fall, it was fined 345 million euros for data protection failures also related to minors. There have also been long-standing complaints from consumer protection groups concerned about minor security and profiling.

TikTok also faces the possibility of increased regulation by member state-level institutions applying the bloc's Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Ireland's Coimisiún na Meán, for example, is considering imposing rules on video-sharing platforms that would require profiling-based recommendation algorithms to be turned off by default.

Things are no brighter for the platform in the US, either, with lawmakers refusing to sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance, citing national security and the platform's ability to track and profile its users. He just proposed a bill that would ban TikTok for as long as possible. A route for foreign governments to manipulate Americans.



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