TikTok’s policy chief defended the platform’s safety measures as the European Union moves to restrict children’s access to social media amid increased scrutiny of tech giants.
Ali Lo, TikTok’s Nordic director of public policy and government, told CNBC’s Karen Tso and Steve Sedgwick that the social media giant is built in a “safe by design” way to ensure young people are safe on the platform.
“We are very aware that both parents and policymakers have concerns in this area,” Mr Lowe said on Tuesday’s Squawk Box Europe show. “We want people to have a healthy and secure relationship with apps, because they provide many benefits.”
This comes as governments around the world consider measures aimed at improving social media safety for young people. Australia became the first country in the world to legally enforce the ban in December, with the UK, France, Greece and Spain announcing similar restrictions.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday that the region would take steps to restrict children’s use of social media, including considering age limits for platforms.
The measures are based on the findings of a special committee on online child safety commissioned by Ms von der Leyen.
“We Europeans believe that parents, not predatory algorithms, raise their children. To that end, let’s be clear: social media is not a toy. While it is ultimately up to parents to decide when to give their children their first smartphone, we have already agreed that there should be a start date for the age at which children can join social media,” she said.
Earlier this year, von der Leyen said the EU would take action against “TikTok and its addictive design”, including features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay and push notifications.
balance a healthy relationship
TikTok Law told CNBC that the company has more than 50 pre-installed safety settings for anyone under 16, ranging from a one-hour screen time limit to a 10 p.m. screen takeover that prompts users to take a break. Some of these measures will appear as a warning, but young users may choose to continue using the platform.
Other measures include restricting the use of direct messages and sales on TikTok Shops to people under 16.
“These are all little default aspects, little nudges to help people develop a balanced and healthy relationship with our app, because that’s what benefits us…If people overuse and burn out, we’re not getting any value out of it,” Lo said, adding that TikTok spent $2 billion on trust and safety last year.
Earlier this year, TikTok settled with plaintiffs in a high-profile social media lawsuit alleging that social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube harmed young people’s mental health through addictive design features such as infinite scrolling.
If the same, meta and google A jury later found the company negligent for failing to warn users about the dangers of using the platform.
