Created at the request of the Les Indépendants group, the commission of inquiry held its first meeting on Wednesday to form its office.
The president of the group Claude Malhuret will be the rapporteur and the socialist Mickaël Vallet the president.
"Current events in the United States, Canada and Europe reinforce our initiative in the Senate," said Mr. Malhuret.
“We are unable to say that TikTok is not a potential instrument of disinformation or manipulation for the benefit of undemocratic regimes, nor that its use is safe with regard to the necessary data protection. investigation will shed light on these issues and make recommendations," he said.
For Mickael Vallet "the impressive success of TikTok, especially with young people, makes it even more necessary to clear up certain gray areas: how does its algorithm work, why is it more addictive than other networks, he said. adverse effects on brain development in adolescents and children?
The Minister Delegate for Digital Jean-Noël Barrot will receive one of the world's network managers on Friday, on a full European tour to respond to criticism of his use of data, the ministry said on Wednesday.
Jean-Noël Barrot intends to ask Erich Andersen, general counsel of ByteDance, parent company of TikTok, "the company's roadmap and commitments" as well as a "precise operational schedule" of the measures taken to protect data. of its users, the ministry said.
In a context of growing Western distrust of the Chinese social network, the United States for its part took a significant step this week towards a ban on the very popular application, via a bill supported by the White House. .
© 2023 AFP