EU Commission launches infringement proceedings against TikTok over child safety failures

The European Commission has opened formal infringement proceedings against TikTok under the Digital Services Act for alleged failures to protect minors, including inadequate age-verification systems, insufficient assessment of risks related to the design of its recommendation algorithm, and non-compliance with transparency obligations on advertising to children. The proceedings follow a risk-assessment order issued in February and could result in fines of up to six per cent of TikTok's global annual turnover if violations are confirmed.

Regulatory action against a major platform underscores that self-reported compliance frameworks leave gaps enforcement agencies can measure. Real-time interception of grooming and sextortion within direct messages—a module Guardii deploys across multiple platforms as a Meta Business Partner—addresses the exposure regulators have identified by detecting hostile contact before it reaches the child, creating an auditable event log for oversight authorities, and enabling the platform or parent to act at the moment risk materialises rather than after harm has been reported.