The European Commission has issued preliminary findings that TikTok’s safeguards for children may fall short of the Digital Services Act, arguing that strong privacy protections should apply by default rather than depend on young users choosing them. The intervention matters because a formal finding of non-compliance could lead to a substantial financial penalty and require changes to how minors’ accounts operate across the platform.

The Commission says content from minors’ public accounts should be visible only to people they have selected and should not be recommended through TikTok’s For You feed. It also notes that private accounts may still be discoverable through others’ following lists and that profile photographs remain public; TikTok could face fines of up to 6% of its global annual revenue if concerns are not resolved. The action follows Ofcom opening a similar UK investigation last week, while a separate EU inquiry into potentially addictive recommendation-system ‘rabbit holes’ continues.