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We’re all familiar with TikTok, but the company has a few more apps that it is distributing. One app that is making waves is the new TikTok Notes app. Aside from that, the company recently launched TikTok Lite. Well, the EU demands that TikTok provide a risk assessment for TikTok Lite. If not, then the ByteDance-owned company could be in some hot water.
In case you don’t know, TikTok Lite is a stripped-down version of the core app. It’s designed for people who don’t have as much storage on their phones and who have limited internet connection speeds.
The latest version of the full TikTok app for Android is nearly a gigabyte in size. That’s not much of an issue for a device with 128GB or 256GB. However, there are people out there who are confined to devices with less than 64GB of storage. Also, there are people in parts of the world that have historically bad internet connections. So, TikTok Lite allows you to watch TikTok videos without eating up too much data or taking up too much space.
The EU wants TikTok to give a risk assessment of TikTok Lite
The company recently launched TikTok Lite in the French and Spanish markets. However, the EU has its eyes on the app. According to the report, this move by the EU comes as part of the Digital Services Act (DSA), and it was spearheaded by Thierry Breton.
The company is going to need to basically explain how dangerous this app is to children, and it has 24 hours to do so. The DSA Target’s companies that could potentially expose children to harmful or destructive content. We all know that TikTok isn’t exactly a saint in that regard.
One thing that the EU pointed out was the Task and Reward Lite program. This program will reward users for doing specific tasks on the platform. “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 behavior,” Breton said.
After TikTok delivers its risk assessment to the EU, the union will assess the company’s response and consider further steps. So, there’s no telling what will happen at this point. However, the DSA could possibly fine TikTok for up to 6% of its annual turnover if it is in violation of the act.