TikTok forced to withdraw ‘addictive’ rewards scheme in EU

Published on 14-08-2024 at 09:32

Concerns over its addictive appeal to young people have resulted in social media giant TikTok withdrawing a popular rewards programme in Europe.

ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is withdrawing it’s ‘Rewards Programme’ from the European Union in order to comply with the Digital Services Act, the European Commission has announced.

The programme allows users of Tiktok – many of whom are children and young people – to earn points while performing certain tasks on the platform such as watching videos, liking content, following creators or inviting friends to join.

‘addictive effect’

This latest development comes a few months after the EU asked for an immediate risk assessment from TikTok on the app, shortly after it was launched in France and Spain, because of concerns about its potential impact on children and users’ mental health.

The Digital Services Act requires large online platforms like TikTok to report potential risks of new functionalities to the EU before they are launched, and then adopt effective measures to negate such risks. EU regulators said the DSA ‘was now in full swing’.

In what they described as a ‘clear message to the social media industry’, the EU’s executive branch said TikTok had now made legally binding commitments to withdraw the rewards programme from the EU and to not launch any other programme that would circumvent that decision.

In a statement, the European Commission said it was ‘concerned that the TikTok Lite Rewards program had been launched without a prior diligent assessment of the risks it entails, particularly in relation to the addictive effect of the Rewards program, and without taking effective risk mitigating measures’.

“The Rewards program, which may stimulate addictive behaviour, could potentially have negative effects on the physical and mental health of users – his is of particular concern for minors, who may have area sensitivity to such feature,” it added.

‘The DSA is in full swing’

Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for Internal Market, said: “The available brain time of young Europeans is not a currency for social media – and it never will be. We have obtained the permanent withdrawal of TikTok Lite Rewards program, which could have had very addictive consequences. The DSA is in full swing.”

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, said: “The safety and well-being of social media users need to be a number one priority. Design features on platforms with addictive effects put the well-being of their users at risk. That’s why we have made TikTok’s commitments under the DSA legal binding. We will carefully monitor TikTok’s compliance. Today’s decision also sends a clear message to the entire social media industry.”