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TikTok has been given 24 hours to provide a risk evaluation on its new app TikTok Lite unveiled in France and Spain earlier this month, on concerns of the app's potential impact on the mental health of children and users, Reuters reported citing the European Commission.
The move by Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, under the regions' Digital Services Act, or DSA, comes two months after he opened a probe into TikTok — owned by Chinese company ByteDance (BDNCE) — over potential violations of the DSA.
The EU's Digital Services Act, or DSA, regulates online intermediaries and platforms, which millions of Europeans use every day. The DSA protects consumers and their rights online, and its main goal is to prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation.
The Commission noted that it has requested information from TikTok, asking for more details on the risk evaluation the short-video app company should have done before deploying TikTok Lite in the EU, the report added.
"This concerns the potential impact of the new 'Task and Reward Lite' programme on the protection of minors, as well as on the mental health of users, in particular in relation to the potential stimulation of addictive behaviour," the EU executive said in a document, according to the report.
TikTok should also provide the risk evaluation for TikTok Lite in 24 hours and other requested information by April 26, after which the Commission would analyze the company's response and assess the next steps, the EU agency noted, as per the report.
The European Commission also requested details on the measures TikTok has put in place to mitigate systemic risks, the report noted.
Earlier this week, it was reported that PDD (PDD)-owned Chinese e-commerce platform Temu could see tougher EU online content regulations after its average monthly users in the region crossed a vital threshold.
Very large online platforms, or VLOPs, with more than 45M users in the EU come under the DSA. Certain services from companies like Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), Amazon (AMZN), Alibaba (BABA), Microsoft (MSFT), ByteDance's (BDNCE) TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, are subject to rules under the DSA.