by The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), Banned the use of the TikTok video sharing app on their portable phones and official devices and service, a spokesperson for the institution told AFP on Thursday.
According to the source, Commission staff have been called to remove the application from official service devices no later than March 15thus confirming information disclosed by the Euractiv website.
By the way, giants like TikTok, Twitter, Apple Store and Amazon, among others, announced on February 17 figures of users in the European Union (EU) that force them to submit to the new regulations of the bloc on Internet surveillance.
All these platforms announced a number of users in the EU exceeding 45 million, for which they must be governed from now on by the severe measures provided for in the Digital Services Law (LSD), which came into force in November.
This group was also joined by Google search units, Google Maps, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram.
strict surveillance
According to LSD regulations, platforms with more than 45 million users must undergo audits annually and explain the measures taken to prevent illegal content online.
The European Commission (executive arm of the EU) you can also order them to disclose and explain their algorithms or databasessomething that these platforms generally keep under lock and key.
Potential fines for any “Very Large Online Platform” (VLOP) or “Very Large Online Search Engine” (VLOSE) that fail to comply can be as much as 6% of their global annual revenue.
Platforms below the 45 million threshold Users also have obligations, although less rigorous and appropriate to their size and scope.
Not all affected platforms are American: Chinese-owned TikTok on Friday announced it had 125 million active monthly users in the EU.
EU wants specific numbers
Swedish music streaming site Spotify and Britain’s OnlyFans – which streams content from sex workers, among others – reported they were below 45 million users.
So did the American dating app Tinder.
“We note with some concern that some platforms only published an estimate that they are below the threshold. This is not enough,” warned a commission spokesman, Johannes Bahrke.
“The rules are clear. A number is a number. We call on those platforms that have not yet done so to publish the numbers without delay.”he added.
The LSD – which is accompanied by another law, on Digital Markets (LMD) – introduced strict rules for giant digital companies to better protect EU consumers.
Some of these web giants reacted irritably to the introduction of the new rules and several limited themselves to indicating if they were above the defined thresholdbut without any precision.
Its goal is to crack down on illegal content online, counter the online sale of unsafe products, better protect minors, and increase transparency about internet services.
Such was the case with Amazon and the Apple Store iOS app store.who were content to point out that the users of their services exceeded 45 million monthly.
*With information from AFP
