What specific child safety risks does the EU allege TikTok fails to prevent?

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The European Union Alleges TikTok Fails to Prevent Specific Child Safety Risks Through Inadequate Account Settings

The European Union has accused TikTok of failing to adequately protect children, citing specific risks such as cyberbullying and predatory behaviour stemming from the platform's account settings. These settings, according to the EU, expose minors to potential harm by allowing their content to be too widely visible, even when privacy measures are ostensibly in place. The bloc's preliminary findings suggest that TikTok's current default configurations do not provide the highest level of protection for young users.
Exposure Through Public Accounts

The EU's investigation revealed that minors on TikTok can set their accounts to public, which means their content is accessible to anyone, irrespective of whether they have a TikTok account. This lack of restriction means that individuals with malicious intent can easily view and interact with a child's shared material. The Digital Services Act (DSA) mandates that children's accounts should have the strongest safety and security protections by default, a standard the EU believes TikTok is not meeting.
Visibility via Follower Lists

Even when children opt to make their accounts private, the EU found that these accounts can still be easily discovered. This is primarily due to the visibility of "following" and "followers" lists, which can allow other users to locate and access private profiles. The EU's concern is that this feature bypasses the intended privacy of a private account, continuing to expose minors to potential dangers.
Risk of Unwanted Contact and Predatory Behaviour

The cumulative effect of these account setting deficiencies, as alleged by the EU, is that TikTok continues to expose children to significant risks. These risks specifically include unwanted contact from strangers, the potential for cyberbullying, and exposure to predatory behaviour. The EU's preliminary view underscores that these vulnerabilities are a direct consequence of TikTok's account configurations, which do not sufficiently safeguard minors.

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What specific child safety risks does the EU allege TikTok fails to prevent?

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