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  • The UFC-Que Choisir and European consumer associations seized the European Commission on Tuesday to denounce TikTok's failings in the protection of minors.

  • They hope to open a continent-wide investigation, which has around 100 million users of the Chinese application.

  • "We want effective measures so that minors are not confronted with videos unsuitable for their age,"

    Laurie Liddell, lawyer at UFC-Que Choisir

    , told

    20 Minutes

    .

A very popular application but which, according to consumer associations, multiplies the breaches of the protection of the youngest.

The UFC-Que Choisir and its European counterparts announced this Tuesday the filing of a complaint against TikTok.

The objective: to force the Chinese social network to be more transparent and to put in place concrete measures for minors.

20 Minutes

takes stock.

What are the complaints of UFC-Que Choisir and consumer associations against TikTok?

The video-sharing application "fails to protect its youngest users," laments the UFC-Que Choisir.

"Concretely, in the application, the videos scroll, and after a few minutes, inappropriate content for minors appears, even if the user has correctly entered his age in his profile", summarizes Laurie Liddell, lawyer specializing in new technologies at UFC-Que Choisir.

These could be videos containing inappropriate or sexually explicit language, for example.

After the “Italian drama linked to the headscarf game […], the network's capacity to protect minors from inappropriate content is clearly established”, considers the UFC-Que Choisir.

The association also pinpoints “loathsome practices” related to the application's virtual currency system.

“Users can buy 'coins' to send virtual gifts to video makers,” Laurie Liddell told

20 Minutes

.

This is all presented in a very entertaining way, so you'll be sending money without really realizing it, especially if you're a minor.

"

Another point of contention: hidden advertising, most sponsored content is not presented as such on the application.

More broadly, the UFC-Que Choisir and its European counterparts point to the lack of transparency on the use of personal data, and the “illegal” regime for the reuse of videos, which TikTok can modify and reproduce “without users having to” have their say ”.

What does the European procedure consist of?

On the one hand, the European Bureau of Consumers' Unions, of which UFC-Que Choisir is a member, "launches an alert to the European Commission" in order to obtain the launch of an investigation into TikTok's practices in the continent-wide.

At the same time, consumer associations are doing the same with the consumer protection authorities in each country.

In France, the UFC-Que Choisir thus seizes the DGCCRF this Tuesday for “deceptive and unfair commercial practices”.

Such an approach at European level had recently been implemented by associations in the case of the dysfunction of Nintendo Switch controllers.

With "100 million users" of TikTok in Europe, including a very large proportion of minors, the European Union is in a strong position to force the application to be more transparent and vigilant with regard to minors, estimates the 'UFC-Que Choisir.

"With a common and coordinated action, the idea is to force TikTok to modify its practices", in particular to respect the RGPD (general regulation on data protection), underlines Laurie Liddell.

In recent years, the European Union has regularly put pressure on Google, Facebook and other Gafa regarding their use of personal data, in particular.

What measures are consumer associations asking for?

“There are a number of ways to protect minors,” says Laurie Liddell.

We want effective measures so that minors do not come across videos that are inappropriate for their age.

Concretely, this could involve the use of an algorithm to filter certain content, or an increased effort in terms of moderation.

On advertising, virtual gifts and data protection, the UFC-Que Choisir asks for more "transparency" and "better information for users", explains the lawyer to

20 Minutes

.

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  • Child protection

  • Personal data

  • Mobile app

  • By the Web

  • TikTok