TikTok suspended a gamification feature in the European Union (EU) following concerns over its addictive design that could pose a mental health risk for young people. The feature, part of the TikTok Lite app, allowed users to earn points for activities like watching and liking TikTok videos. The suspension came two days after the EU opened an investigation into the feature.
Under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), TikTok has a legal obligation to mitigate systemic risks in areas like child safety and mental health. However, the company failed to produce a risk assessment report on the feature when requested by the EU. This could lead to penalties of up to 6% of its global annual turnover if found to have broken the EU's rules.
TikTok claimed it's "voluntarily suspending" the rewards feature in the region to address concerns. However, the EU had signaled it was preparing to force TikTok's hand, saying it was considering using interim measures powers contained in the DSA to close down the app while it conducts an investigation into the feature.
The EU gave TikTok two days to provide arguments against an enforced shutdown. TikTok opted to preempt enforcement by announcing a "voluntary" suspension. The EU's internal-market-commissioner-cum-internet-sheriff, Thierry Breton, responded to TikTok’s announcement warning: “Our children are not guinea pigs for social media.”
The EU has two DSA probes open on TikTok. The first, announced back in February, is looking into a broad sweep of suspected noncompliance in areas such as addictive design, child protection, ads transparency, and data access for researchers. The second, announced earlier this week, is focused on TikTok Lite.
