Italy regulator fines TikTok $11 mln over content checks
The Hindu
Italian watchdog fines TikTok for inadequate content checks, targeting harmful videos popular among young users, facing global regulatory pressure.
Italy's competition watchdog has fined three units of social media giant TikTok 10 million euros ($10.94 million) in total for inadequate checks on content potentially harmful to young or vulnerable users, it said on Thursday.
TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and other social media companies including Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms, are under pressure from regulators around the globe to protect under-age users.
The Italian regulator referred to videos showing young people performing a practice known as the "French scar", a challenge popular among users which involves pinching cheeks to leave a lasting bruise on the cheekbone.
"We disagree with this decision", a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement on the antitrust fine, adding that the platform had "long ago restricted visibility" of French Scar videos for under 18s.
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Last month, Italy's communications authority AGCOM - a separate regulator - forced TikTok to remove the videos.
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