The European Union’s incoherent approach to TikTok has become even less convincing, following the launch of a new investigation into whether the social media platform breaches child protection rules.
Blink and you will miss the bloc’s latest contortions on the Chinese-made social app, which sees typical users sharing short videos set to music. Brussels officials have long criticised the app—and even banned Commission and Parliament staff from using it—due to cybersecurity fears. But the whiff of upcoming elections was more than enough to mothball such fears, prompting the Parliament’s press office to announce that it will use TikTok to “get the message across” (evidently not the “message” that TikTok is bad).
Not even a fortnight later, the EU has announced it is launching an investigation into possible rule-breaking. EU industry chief Thierry Breton said this relates to “suspected breach[es] of transparency and obligations to protect minors.” He cited “addictive designs” and potentially ineffective age verification measures, which could lead to children watching inappropriate material.
Officials are also concerned about the so-called “rabbit hole effect,” which occurs when algorithms ‘feed’ users similar content by following up on what they are already watching—an not uncommon technique also used by online platforms like YouTube and Facebook. A Commission press release said it would look into the potential impact of this on “radicalisation processes.”
These fears appear to be genuine and few are likely to argue on principle against the potentially detrimental effects of internet addiction, particularly on children. Yet it is disconcerting, to say the least, when these fears are raised in tandem to the EU’s willingness to use the app in order to reach a few extra voters.
This hypocrisy can also be seen in both Britain and the U.S., where officials enjoy attacking TikTok—describing it as a “Trojan horse for the Chinese Communist party”—while paying their staff to use it in pursuit of shallow electoral advantage.
