It can’t really be said that the last few hours have been too favorable for TikTok.
The US House of Representatives signed a bill into law on Wednesday, March 13 which risks having ByteDance’s social network banned from the entire US territory. If the Senate also approves the law, ByteDance (owner of the platform) will have 180 days to sell TikTok to an American company. Otherwise, the social network will be banned from US app stores and servers.
E the next day, Thursday 14 March, TikTok was fined by the AGCM for unfair commercial practice. We understand better why the Chinese platform was sanctioned by our Antitrust.
L’AGCM fines TikTok
The AGCM (Competition and Market Authority) fines TikTok, and makes it known through a press release published on its official website on Thursday 14 March.
In the introductory note we read that “they result the company’s controls on the contents circulating on the platform are inadequate, in particular those that may threaten the safety of minors and vulnerable subjects. Furthermore, these contents are systematically re-proposed to users following their algorithmic profiling, stimulating ever-increasing use of the social network.”
Sanction for unfair commercial practice
In short, the fine to TikTok (or more precisely to ByteDance) by the AGCM was imposed for unfair commercial practice.
More specifically, with the preliminary investigation it was ascertained that TikTok allowed the dissemination of content “likely to threaten the psycho-physical safety of users, especially if they are minors and vulnerable.”
E the concrete example of the challenge called “French Scar” is given, an absurd challenge that encouraged young people to self-harm. And on which, as we wrote at the time, the AGCM had already opened an investigation in March 2023.
The social network’s failure to apply measures to avoid the spread of similar content is also in open conflict with the guidelines published on the same platform. And which, although the promises should protect younger users, do not take “adequate account of the specific vulnerability of adolescents, characterized by peculiar cognitive mechanisms from which derive, for example, the difficulty in distinguishing reality from fiction and the tendency to emulate group behaviors.”
The algorithm under accusation
The AGCM also points out that TikTok is not limited to a certain laxity towards risky content.
The algorithmic profiling of users continuously selects videos that are shown in the For You and Followed sections. With “the aim of increasing interactions between users and time spent on the platform so as to increase the profitability of advertising revenues. This causes undue conditioning of users who are encouraged to use the platform more and more.”
Fine to TikTok of 10 million euros
For these unfair commercial practices, AGCOM assessed a fine of 10 million euros to TikTok.
The fine goes “to three companies of the Bytedance Ltd group, namely the Irish TikTok Technology Limited, the British TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited and the Italian TikTok Italy Srl.”
In the 44 pages of the provision, which can be accessed via the link at the bottom of the press release, we read that the companies have violated the “Regulation on investigative procedures regarding misleading and comparative advertising, unfair commercial practices, violation of consumer rights in contracts , violation of the prohibition on discrimination and oppressive clauses”, adopted by the Authority with resolution dated 1 April 2015, no. 25411.
The replica of TikTok
Immediately after the AGCM’s fine against TikTok, a response from a spokesperson for the ByteDance platform arrived.
Who said: “We disagree with this decision. Content linked to the so-called ‘French scar’ recorded a daily average of just 100 searches per day in Italy before the AGCM announced the launch of investigations last year. We have long since reduced the visibility of such content to users under the age of 18, also excluding them from the For You page”.
