The European Commission on Friday issued preliminary findings that ByteDance-owned TikTok violates the Digital Services Act by failing to adequately protect the privacy and safety of users under 18, exposing the platform to a potential fine of up to 6% of its global annual turnover.
The Commission said TikTok's account settings allow minor users' profiles and content to be visible and easily discoverable by others online. Specifically, children aged 13 to 15 can change their accounts from private to public, and the private accounts of minors aged 16 to 17 can be viewed by anyone on the internet, a Commission spokesperson said. Even when children select private settings, their accounts can be found through other users' following and followers lists. Brussels directed TikTok to adjust default settings for minors so that their accounts are only visible to users the child has accepted.
EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said the DSA requires platforms to build protections for minors into the design of their services, adding that 'a high level of protection should not be an opt-in but the default' [Source: Reuters]. TikTok said it would review the findings and work constructively with the regulator, stating that teen accounts on the platform have more than 50 preset privacy and safety features and that under-18 accounts are private by default.
TikTok can now examine the Commission's documents and submit a response before the watchdog issues a final decision, which could include the 6% global turnover fine. The latest charges are the fourth allegation brought against TikTok under the DSA in two years.
The Commission opened formal DSA proceedings against TikTok in February 2024, covering areas including the recommender system's so-called rabbit hole effect, age verification, privacy protections for minors, researcher data access, and advertising transparency. Preliminary findings that TikTok's addictive design breached the DSA were issued on 6 February 2026 [Source: European Commission]. Advertising transparency elements of the investigation were closed through binding commitments in December 2025, and preliminary findings on researcher access were adopted in October 2025. The DSA became fully applicable to designated very large online platforms in August 2023. TikTok is used by 170 million people across the European Union.
Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC, Associated Press, European Commission, Schjodt, Verfassungsblog