The European Union is finally beginning to scrutinize TikTok, changing the status quo that has seen the Chinese platform go largely unchallenged.
TikTok has been under fire in the US for several years, but the EU has largely been silent, instead focusing its attention on larger players among Big Tech. According to CNBC, that appears to be changing.
Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner of the Internet Market, has reportedly warned TikTok CEO Shou Zi that the app could be banned if it fails to comply with EU digital content regulations by the September 1 deadline.
TikTok has evidently avoided scrutiny so far through a combination of popularity among Europeans and flying under the radar. While EU regulators have been concerned over the social media platform and its penchant for privacy and data scandals, the bloc has been more concerned with companies like Google and Meta.
“It takes a little bit of time for the European Commission to get its act together on these issues,” Dexter Thillien, lead tech and telecoms analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC.
“It’s not because of a lack of willingness from the European Commission to do something,” Thillien continued. “They’ve got their hands full with bigger companies.”
That appears to be changing, however, with the bloc finally turning its attention to TikTok and realizing action will be needed to reign in its privacy abuses.
“TikTok’s success is the result of a European policy failure,” Moritz Korner, a member of the European Parliament for Germany’s Free Democratic Party, told CNBC.
“From a geopolitical perspective, the EU’s inactivity towards TikTok has been naive.”