TECH - Italy Slaps Tiktok With $10M Fine Over Child Safety Concerns Amid Looming US Ban | Benzinga
As TikTok faces a ban in the U.S., the social media giant is slapped with a significant penalty in Italy for its content moderation practices, particularly concerning the safety of minors on the platform.
What Happened: The Italian Competition Authority, AGCM, has fined three TikTok units a total of €10 million ($10.94 million). The fine targets TikTok’s failure to effectively police content that may be harmful to minors or vulnerable users.
The social media giant, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has been grouped with other platforms such as Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms in facing intense scrutiny to safeguard underage users. AGCM rebuked TikTok for not implementing adequate measures to prevent the spread of dangerous content and for not living up to its safety protocols, thus deceiving consumers about the platform’s security.