TikTok in EU antitrust talks over ‘aggressive’ data harvesting

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and the EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager discussed “aggressive” data harvesting and surveillance in the US on Tuesday, said the European Commission.

The short-video app, owned by Chinese technology conglomerate ByteDance, admitted last month that some of its staff accessed TikTok user data of two journalists improperly to identify the source of leaks to the media.

The company has for the past three years tried to reassure Washington that the personal data of US citizens cannot be accessed and its content cannot be manipulated by China’s Communist Party or any other entity under Beijing’s influence.

In the EU, TikTok and many other companies face new stringent tech rules that go into force in the next two years, requiring online platforms to do more to police the internet for illegal content.

“The objective of the meeting with TikTok was to review how the company is preparing for complying with its obligations under the European Commission’s regulation, namely the Digital Services Act and possibly under the Digital Markets Act,” the EU executive said in a statement.

“At the meeting the parties also discussed GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation] and matters of privacy and data transfer obligations with a reference to the recent press reporting on aggressive data harvesting and surveillance in the US,” it said.

Chew is due to meet values and transparency commissioner Vera Jourova and home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson after Vestager.

TikTok had no immediate comment to make.

Reuters