European consumer groups filed complaints against Tik Tok, a Chinese short-form video app, accusing it of breaching the European Union consumer rights and said the application fails to protect children from hidden advertising and inappropriate content.
The European Consumer Organization, or BEUC, says that the popular short-form video app's terms of service are unfair to users and its practices are misleading. Its complaint and alerts to European regulators come as TikTok faces increased scrutiny in Europe.
The BEUC filed the complaints with the European Commission, and consumer organizations in 15 countries have alerted their authorities and urged investigations into TikTok's conduct, according to the group, The Hill reported.
The complaint also targets the Chinese-owned app's processing of user data, a concern that US lawmakers have also raised.
"In just a few years, TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps with millions of users across Europe. But TikTok is letting its users down by breaching their rights on a massive scale. We have discovered a whole series of consumer rights infringements and therefore filed a complaint against TikTok," Monique Goyens, director-general of BEUC, said in a statement.
The complaint alleged that aspects of TikTok's terms of service are "unclear, ambiguous and favour TikTok to the detriment of its users," and unfairly give TikTok the "irrevocable right to use, distribute and reproduce the videos published by users, without remuneration."
The complaint specifically called out TikTok's handling of content that is reaching some of its younger user base.
It alleged that TikTok "fails to protect children and teenagers from hidden advertising and potentially harmful content on its platform." For example, the complaint calls out the use of branded hashtag challenges where users are "encouraged to create the content of specific products."
"TikTok is also potentially failing to conduct due diligence when it comes to protecting children from inappropriate content such as videos showing suggestive content which are just a few scrolls away," the BEUC said.
Europe has stricter regulations in place surrounding data privacy compared to the U.S. Under the General Data Protection Regulation law, which was implemented in 2018, companies are required to state what data is collected and for what purpose.
Tik Tok has been facing scrutiny around the world for its alleged links with the Chinese government.
Last year, India banned Tik Tok and several other Chinese mobile apps keeping in view the threat to the nation's sovereignty and security.
The majority of the apps banned in the June 29 order were red-flagged by intelligence agencies over concerns that they were collecting user data and possibly also sending them "outside".
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU