The Italian competition authority, AGCM, has imposed a 10 million euro fine on the popular social media platform TikTok for not sufficiently protecting minors from potentially harmful content.
Regulatory Action Against TikTok
According to Reuters, on March 14, AGCM announced that it would fine three divisions of TikTok a combined total of 10 million euros. The authority's decision came after determining that TikTok's efforts to monitor content and ensure its safety for underage users were insufficient.
"TikTok has not taken adequate measures to prevent the spread of such content and is not fully complying with the guidelines it has agreed to, assuring users that the platform is safe," AGCM said in a statement.
In particular, the regulator expressed concerns over TikTok's so-called "challenges," which frequently go viral among younger users and pose questionable safety risks.
One example of such a challenge is the "Hot Chip Challenge" or "One Chip Challenge," which became popular on the platform last year and involved eating a tortilla chip made from the two hottest chili peppers in the world. Incidents in Germany resulting in hospitalization after participating in the challenge raised concerns. Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) later warned against participating in online challenges that involve eating excessively spicy food because of possible serious health consequences.
Concurrently, the US House of Representatives passed a bill proposing a ban on TikTok unless its Chinese parent company divests its American operations within six months.
Additionally, it's worth noting that in February, the European Commission initiated a formal investigation into TikTok for potential breaches of new EU digital regulations designed to safeguard minors and ensure advertising transparency.
