Haro on TikTok: the Senate inquiry committee responsible for studying the operation and “strategy of influence” of the application of Chinese origin acclaimed by young people recommends better control and forcing it to take a certain number of measures under penalty of suspension.
Holding TikTok responsible for its content
The senators thus called on the government on Thursday to “suspend TikTok in France and (to) request its suspension within the European Union”, if this social network does not clarify before January 1, 2024 the nature of its links with the authorities. and does not implement “effective” moderation and “effective age control”.
The commission also intends to “hold (TikTok) responsible for its content”, because of its “active role” on the videos it broadcasts, in particular by acting “in a targeted manner on the operation of its algorithm” of recommendation, while social networks are accused of having participated in the runaway recent urban violence in France.
This content “could be biased in favor of Chinese authorities anxious to fuel unrest likely to weaken the image of democracy”, establishes this report, presented at a press conference.
André Gattolin (presidential majority), vice-president of the commission, expressed “his complete doubt about the viability of TikTok’s economic model, which suggests that it is not an economic enterprise but a political enterprise with a vocation to collect personal data”.
TikTok’s strong dependence on its parent company ByteDance
Following the wishes of the executive, which this week considered “suspending functionalities” on social networks in the event of new riots, the parliamentarians recommend “a moderation a priori in the event of serious disturbances to public order” and the possibility for the authorities “to withdraw or block access” to certain content.
The rapporteur Claude Malhuret, president of the group Les Indépendants-République et Territoires, is in favor of a hard line towards these networks – which he describes as “anti-social” – and whose excesses he frequently points out. Several recommendations – which could be the subject of legislative proposals from the start of the school year – do not only concern TikTok but include its American competitors.
Mr. Malhuret, however, insisted on the strong dependence of TikTok on its parent company ByteDance, a company based in the Cayman Islands “for reasons of opacity”, but owned and controlled by Chinese shareholders, a country where the law obliges companies local authorities and residents to reveal the data stored on their servers if the State asks them.
Cybersecurity
At the beginning of June, the commission had bombarded two leaders of TikTok in France with questions on this subject, without obtaining more than denials and vague answers. She returns in her report to the multiple controversies that have punctuated the history of the application which has become, during confinement, one of the most popular with adolescents.
TikTok has notably been accused of having spied on and remotely geolocated journalists, transferred user data to China and taken censorship measures for the benefit of China or its allies, in particular Russia during the invasion of Ukraine.
Its “addictive” nature and its short videos, in particular disinformation, to which often very young users are exposed, lead senators to recommend a “blocking of the application after 60 minutes” for minors. Invoking the risks in terms of cybersecurity, these parliamentarians also wish to extend the prohibition of application in France – today only to state officials – to all staff of public or private operators “of vital importance”.
Montana banned TikTok
Finally, they demand “the negotiation of a fair agreement” with the authors’ society against audiovisual piracy, and fairer remuneration for the publishers of the music used on the platform.
Contacted by AFP, TikTok France was unable to react immediately. This network claims “total separation” from its entities in China, but faces growing limitations in the West.
In the United States, Montana has banned TikTok from January 1, 2024 and other American states could follow, while Congress and the White House consider similar bills. The application is used each month by approximately 150 million Americans and the same number of Europeans, including more than 22 million French people.