Tik Tok Is In Crossfire Of US Authorities
Date
6/29/2024 10:17:31 PM
(MENAFN- AzerNews)
By Alimat Aliyeva
The TikTok short video app has once again found itself in the
crossfire of the US authorities. This time, the US federal Trade
Commission (FTC) is taking action against the popular video
platform, Azernews reports.
The charge reads: TikTok violated the US law on the protection
of children's data. Negotiations between the video platform and the
Federal Trade Commission have been going on for a year, but legal
steps are now being taken. TikTok denies all the accusations.
Especially noteworthy: As a rule, such proceedings are not made
public, but the FTC sees great public interest in this topic.
However, the information situation remains difficult. Neither
TikTok nor the Federal Trade Commission provided more details.
In parallel with the accusations of data protection, the
platform is under pressure to separate from its Chinese parent
company ByteDance. A recently passed U.S. law aims to enforce this
law. TikTok has a year to make a decision. If TikTok does not
separate from ByteDance, the short video app may be banned in the
United States.
TikTok sued the decision, citing freedom of speech. The company
also stated that it is not interested in selling the app. They
would rather close the app in the US market than sell it.
Meanwhile, European authorities are also expanding their
investigations into TikTok. In February, the EU initiated formal
proceedings against the application. It is suspected that the
platform promotes addictive behavior (addiction) and thus the
protection of children is not sufficiently guaranteed.
In the spring, an additional EU warning appeared due to the new
version of the TikTok Lite app. Users receive digital coins when
they watch videos. They can then be exchanged for vouchers on
various online services. The new version of the app has already
been launched in France and Spain. Despite the risks associated
with the addictive effect, TikTok brought the new feature to the
market "without effective risk reduction measures," the EU
Commission notes. TikTok responded promptly and published a report
on how to minimize risks, and suspended the corresponding
function.
The legal proceedings against TikTok are still ongoing.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the EU may
also ban TikTok if the allegations are confirmed during the review
process.
Despite all the contradictions, it is obvious that the
popularity of the application remains unchanged all over the world.
TikTok, with millions of users in the EU alone and about a billion
active users worldwide, remains one of the most important players
among social networks. However, if a ban is indeed imposed in the
US, competitors such as Facebook's parent company Meta or YouTube
could benefit significantly from this.
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