TikTok agreed to remove a rewards program in many European countries Monday after the European Union argued that it made the social media app addictive.
TikTok Lite, an app that uses less data than the original platform, features a program that awards points to adults for watching videos, liking posts and inviting friends to the app. Adults can use the points for Amazon vouchers and TikTok coins to tip other users.
After TikTok Lite was launched in Spain and France in April, the European Union, which is composed of 27 countries, accused the company of failing to report the potential risks of using the rewards program.
That type of reporting is required under the bloc’s Digital Services Act, a regulation introduced last year to protect people from illegal content, targeted ads, unwanted algorithmic feeds and disinformation. The act requires companies behind popular social media apps to be transparent about how content and products are algorithmically recommended and how their features could be addictive.
TikTok suspended the rewards program in late April after the E.U. accusations. On Monday, TikTok disabled the feature in E.U. countries and pledged not to create a similar program in the future.
Monday’s agreement was the first of its kind since the European Union began investigating social media platforms — including TikTok, X, Facebook and Instagram — in the past year for potential data privacy lapses and addictive features.
Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for digital affairs, said in a statement that the legally binding agreement “sends a clear message to the entire social media industry.”
Social media companies are facing pressure across the world to protect young people online. Last week, the Senate passed a pair of bills that represented the most significant restrictions on tech platforms to clear a congressional chamber in decades.
Elliott Burton, a TikTok spokesperson, said in a statement to The Washington Post that the company was “pleased” to reach a resolution with the European Union.
“We always seek to engage constructively with the European Commission and other regulators,” the statement said.
Thierry Breton, the commissioner of the European Union’s internal market, said in a statement in April that TikTok Lite’s rewards program “could be as toxic and addictive as cigarettes” and puts children at risk of mental health problems. While TikTok Lite requires users to be 18 or older to enroll in its rewards program, the European Union raised concerns over how effective the app was in verifying ages.
Pamela Keel, a psychology research professor at Florida State University, said people’s brains are designed to repeat behaviors that result in rewards — even if the prizes don’t actually benefit them. Social media delivers those rewards to users through likes and followers, Keel said, and adding a rewards program could draw more people to the app.
“All social media platforms, in some way, have captured humans’ ability to replace real rewards with these symbolic rewards,” Keel said.
The European Union opened separate formal proceedings against TikTok in February to investigate whether the app was addictive and effective at protecting users’ privacy. That probe is ongoing.
The European Union’s social media regulations have led to platforms taking precautionary actions in Europe. Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, decided in July that it wouldn’t release a new artificial-intelligence model, which scans users’ public information, in E.U. countries due to regulatory concerns, Axios reported. Apple made a similar announcement in June over its new AI system, CNBC reported.
Ursula von der Leyen, the E.U. Commission president, said last month that she would continue to take action against social media platforms she suspected were addictive, Politico reported.
In the United States on Friday, the Justice Department sued TikTok and its China-based owner, ByteDance, alleging that they illegally collected data on millions of Americans younger than 13. A TikTok spokesman told The Post that many of the accusations were inaccurate.
Forty-one states and D.C. sued Meta in October, saying the company uses addictive features to harm children. A Meta spokeswoman told The Post at the time that she was “disappointed” the states filed a lawsuit instead of working with companies “to create clear, age-appropriate standards.” A minor from New York made similar allegations Monday, when he filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against Meta, which responded by saying it aims to provide safe experiences for teens.