On Thursday, September 11th, TikTok firmly rejected a French parliamentary report that accused the platform of being “teeming with harmful content” and recommended a full social media ban for under-15s.
The Chinese-owned platform said it “categorically rejects the misleading portrayal” made by MPs on the investigative committee. A company spokesman told AFP that lawmakers were
trying to make our company a scapegoat for issues affecting the entire sector and society as a whole.
The report on the “psychological effects on minors” of the content accessible on TikTok was part of a broader push by French lawmakers to curb minors’ access to social media. On the same day, a parliamentary committee proposed a blanket ban for under-15s and a nighttime “digital curfew” for teenagers aged 15 to 18.
The war of words broke out against the backdrop of European Union-led attempts to regulate the tech industry. U.S. president Donald Trump has threatened to retaliate against such ‘discrimination’ with new tariffs.
