The CEO of TikTok will meet top EU chiefs next week amid concerns the short video app is a hotbed of disinformation. The meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron will focus on how the Chinese-owned company moderates content and protects minors online, according to people familiar with the matter. The European Union is also investigating whether TikTok violates stringent privacy rules and sends users’ data to China. EU officials are asking the company to demonstrate it can comply with those rules, the people said.
The visit by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will include meetings with EU industry chief Thierry Breton, EU digital chief Vera Jourova, and EU antitrust chief Didier Reynders. It will be the first meeting between Chew and the regulators since a few EU nations banned government workers from using the app on their work devices over security worries.
TikTok has been under heightened regulatory scrutiny over concerns the short video app could be used by Chinese authorities to spy on Western users and spread state propaganda. Its popularity in the West has raised fears that it may be used to incite violence and other terrorist activity. This concern was stoked by reports last year that TikTok employees had misappropriated the data of two journalists to try to track the source of leaks to the media.
EU regulators have asked the company to show it can comply with the bloc’s strict new digital regulations. Those rules, called the Digital Services Act (DSA), are set to take effect in November. They force major online platforms to appoint independent privacy experts, ensure transparency about their practices, and have safeguards to prevent children from viewing inappropriate content. The company has also promised to store users’ data in the EU instead of in its home base of China to respond to regional concerns over data protection and security.
TikTok has also faced pressure from France and other European countries to limit the app’s use by young users and restrict access to some of its controversial features, including “death challenges,” where users attempt to survive stunts such as hanging upside down or putting their heads in a blender. The CEO, scheduled to speak at a tech conference in Brussels this month, has vowed to step up efforts to remove dangerous content from the platform.
The CEO’s visit comes as EU digital policy chief Breton has been urging the company to do more to prevent disinformation from spreading on its platform and ahead of the 2024 elections in the bloc when stricter online moderation rules come into effect. Breton has asked TikTok to provide more details about Project Clover, its plan for storing Europeans’ data in the EU with oversight by a third party, and how it will moderate content ahead of those elections, according to the people familiar with the meeting. EU data protection watchdogs in Ireland are also investigating the company’s transfer of users’ data to China and its failure to disclose that to users.
