"The era of candor has come to an end."

TikTok

must change its practices, comply with new European legislation before September 1 and ensure that its content is suitable for a particularly young and vulnerable audience.

Otherwise, you risk sanctions and even a ban on

operating on community territory

.

That is the message that the European Commissioner for the Common Market, Thierry Breton, conveyed this Thursday to the CEO of the Asian giant, Shou Zi Chew.

"All networks and platforms are welcome, as long as they abide by our rules. All the rules."

The message that the manager has heard is not new, but

perhaps it had never been so clear since Brussels.

Just 10 days ago she was in the Commission and met with the person in charge of Competition (Vestager), that of Values ​​and Transparency (Jourova) and that of Justice (Reynders).

And while they did discuss the new legislation, challenges and concerns, the tone was much softer.

"It is a priority for us to be prepared," his vice president for public policy for Europe, Theo Bertram, said at the time.

Something that does not seem enough for the person in charge of the Internal Market.

"With younger audiences comes greater responsibility. It is not acceptable that, after apparently funny and harmless videos, it takes seconds for users to access harmful content and sometimes even death threats. I am also concerned about reports of spying on journalists and the transfer of personal data outside Europe. With millions of young users,

TikTok

has a special responsibility to ensure that its content is safe," explains the French commissioner, one of the most vocal voices in the ongoing struggle of lawmakers and regulators with big tech, like Twitter.

In an assessment of the conversation, its implications and the environment in which we move in 2023, Breton argues that the naivete that made us think that social networks were merely a "refreshing way to interact in a fun way" has "come to its end".

They're funny, entertaining, engaging, but they're also full of "deadly challenges," she says, referring to the dangerous viral tests that have cost teenagers their lives around the world.

"There is also harassment, misinformation, especially from Russia. Election manipulation, promotion of eating disorder habits, data leaks and they are used to spy on journalists," laments Breton.

And that's why you can't look the other way.

The criticism comes at

a delicate moment for TikTok,

since the pressure from the United States is very high, precisely because it considers the platform a trojan horse for the Chinese government.

"I have very explicitly conveyed to the CEO the need to intensify efforts to comply with EU legislation on data protection, copyright and online platforms, in particular the Digital Services Act (DSA), which will create a safer digital space," says the French politician, whose ambitions far exceed his current portfolio.

The new digital services directive

The Digital Services Directive (DSA), which came into force in November 2022, stipulates

new obligations for platforms,

which are obliged to reduce harmful content and counter risks.

They will apply to large firms from September 1 of this year.

In case of non-compliance, companies face penalties of up to 6% of global turnover, reinforced supervision and even a ban from operating in the EU in case of repeated serious infringements that endanger the life or safety of people. .

At the latest,

the Internet giants

must present updated data on their active users in the EU on February 17 of this course.

Those with more than 45 million users in the EU will be classified as "Very Large Online Platforms" (VLOP), and four months after receiving that label they must make a "mandatory proactive assessment of the risks that their services may represent for society, including negative effects on minors, public health, physical and mental well-being".

Likewise, they must implement effective measures to guarantee the privacy, security and protection of minors.

"We do not arbitrarily decide to ban any entity or platform. On the contrary, we have clear and strict regulations, a predictable framework that both users and platforms need. This includes deterrent sanctions that we hope we do not have to use, but unfortunately we cannot rely solely on the goodwill. We will not hesitate to do everything in our power to protect our citizens if audits do not show full compliance," Breton threatens.

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