Get the latest tech news
TikTok fined in Italy after ‘French scar’ challenge led to consumer safety probe
Italy's competition and consumer authority, the AGCM, has fined TikTok €10 million (almost $11M) following a probe into algorithmic safety concerns. The Italy's competition and consumer authority, the AGCM, has fined TikTok €10 million following a probe into algorithmic safety concerns.
The authority’s remarks particularly highlight the role of TikTok’s recommendation system in spreading “potentially dangerous” content, pointing out the platform’s incentive to drive engagement and increase user interactions and time spent on the service to boost ad revenue. Civil society groups, such as the ICCL, also argue this would shut off the outrage tap that ad-funded social media platforms monetize through engagement-focused recommender systems which have a secondary effect of amplifying division and undermining societal cohesion for profit. While the Italian enforcement is limited to one EU Member State, the European Commission is responsible for overseeing TikTok’s compliance with algorithmic accountability and transparency provisions in the pan-EU Digital Services Act (DSA) — where penalties for non-compliance can scale up to 6% of global annual turnover.
Or read this on TechCrunch
