European Union Accuses TikTok of Flaws in Child Privacy Default Protections
The European Commission has formally flagged serious privacy deficiencies in TikTok‘s platform settings, warning that the social media network fails to properly shield children from adult users and online predators.
According to preliminary findings released under the EU’s Digital Services Act, default profile configurations allow strangers to easily access accounts belonging to minors. European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier emphasized that default privacy protections for underage users must be strictly enforced rather than treated as optional design choices. Regnier noted that teenagers aged 13 to 15 can effortlessly change their profiles from private to public, while content from users aged 16 and 17 remains widely accessible across the internet, exposing young people to potential grooming, unwanted contact, and cyberbullying.
The action marks another significant escalation in Brussels’ regulatory oversight of major technology platforms. Under the European Commission‘s framework for Very Large Online Platforms—defined as services with over 45 million monthly active users in the bloc—companies that violate child protection and safety mandates face formal non-compliance decisions. Penalties for non-compliance can reach up to 6 percent of a parent company’s total annual global revenue.
TikTok, owned by Beijing-headquartered ByteDance, now has the opportunity to formally respond to the findings and propose corrective measures. In an official statement, the platform stated it would examine the Commission’s conclusions and engage constructively with European authorities, maintaining that child protection remains a primary operational commitment.
The regulatory scrutiny carries substantial weight given TikTok’s reach across the 27-nation bloc, where it claims approximately 170 million monthly users. EU estimates indicate that a vast portion of that audience consists of children and adolescents, with internal data showing that roughly 7 percent of users aged 12 to 15 spend four to five hours per day engaged on the platform.
The current privacy finding follows a separate action initiated by European regulators in February, which targeted the app’s structural design. That earlier probe examined features like infinite scrolling and video autoplay, evaluating whether such mechanisms cultivate addictive behavior that impairs the physical and mental health of younger users. The dual inquiries reflect Europe’s broader push to hold international tech giants—including Meta, Apple, and Alphabet—accountable to stringent consumer protection standards.
