London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Aug 10, 2025

Europe turns on TikTok

Europe turns on TikTok

CEO Shou Zi Chew meets with the EU’s top digital policymaker in Brussels amid a growing chorus of public criticism and legal challenges.

In the United States, TikTok is a favorite punching bag for lawmakers who've compared the Chinese-owned app to "digital fentanyl" and say it should be banned.

Now that hostility is spreading to Europe, where fears about children's safety and reports that TikTok spied on journalists using their IP locations are fueling a backlash against the video-sharing app used by more than 250 million Europeans.

As TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew heads to Brussels on Tuesday to meet with top digital policymaker Margrethe Vestager amid a wider reappraisal of EU ties with China, his company faces a slew of legal, regulatory and security challenges in the bloc — as well as a rising din of public criticism.

One of the loudest critics is French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called TikTok "deceptively innocent" and a cause of "real addiction" among users, as well as a source of Russian disinformation. Such comments have gone hand-in-hand with aggressive media coverage in France, including Le Parisien daily's December 29 front page calling TikTok "A real danger for the brains of our children."

New restrictions may be in order. During a trip to the United States in November, Macron told a group of American investors and French tech CEOs that he wanted to regulate TikTok, according to two people in the room. TikTok denies it is harmful and says it has measures to protect kids on the app.

While it wasn't clear what rules Macron was referring to — his office declined to comment — the remarks added to a darkening tableau for TikTok. In addition to two EU-wide privacy probes that are set to wrap up in coming months, TikTok has to contend with extensive new requirements on content moderation under the bloc's new digital rulebook, the DSA, from mid-2023 — as well as the possibility of being caught up in the bloc's new digital competition rulebook, the Digital Markets Act.

In answers to emailed questions, France's digital minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that France would rely on the DSA and DMA to regulate TikTok at an EU level, though he "remained vigilant on these ever-evolving models" of ad-supported social media. Barrot added that he "never failed to maintain a level of pressure appropriate to the stakes of the DSA" in meetings with TikTok executives.

Ahead of Chew's visit to Brussels, Thierry Breton, the bloc's internal market commissioner, warned him about the need to "respect the integrality of our rules," according to comments the commissioner made in Spain, reported by Reuters. A spokesperson for Vestager said she aimed to "review how the company was preparing for complying with its (possible) obligations under our regulation."

That said, the probes TikTok is facing deal with suspected violations that have already taken place. If Ireland's data regulator, which leads investigations on behalf of other EU states, finds that TikTok has broken the bloc's privacy rulebook, the General Data Protection Regulation, fines could amount to up to 4 percent of the firm's global turnover. Penalties can be even higher under the DSA, which starts applying to big platforms in mid-2023.


Spying fears


And yet, having to fork over a few million euros could be the least of TikTok's troubles in Europe, as some lawmakers here are following their U.S. peers to call for much tougher restrictions on the app amid fears that data from TikTok will be used for spying.

TikTok is under investigation for sending data on EU users to China — one of two probes being led by Ireland. Reports that TikTok employees in China used TikTok data to track the movements of two Western journalists only intensified spying fears, especially in privacy-conscious Germany. (TikTok acknowledged the incident and fired four employees over what they said was unauthorized access to user data.)

One of the loudest critics is French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called TikTok "deceptively innocent" and a cause of "real addiction" among users


Citing a "lack of data security and data protection" as well as data transfers to China, the digital policy spokesman for Germany's Social Democratic Party group in the Bundestag said that the U.S. ban on TikTok for federal employees' phones was "understandable."

"I think it makes sense to also critically examine applications such as TikTok and, if necessary, to take measures. I would therefore advise civil servants, but also every citizen, not to install untrustworthy services and apps on their smartphones," Jens Zimmermann added.

Maximilian Funke-Kaiser, digital policy spokesman for the liberal FDP group in German parliament, went even further raising the prospect of a full ban on use of TikTok on government phones. "In view of the privacy and security risks posed by the app and the app's far-reaching access rights, I consider the ban on TikTok on the work phones of U.S. government officials to be appropriate. Corresponding steps should also be examined in Germany."

For Moritz Körner, a centrist lawmaker in European Parliament, the potential risks linked to TikTok are far greater than with Twitter due to the former's larger user base — at least five times as many users as Twitter in Europe — and the fact that up to a third of its users are aged 13-19. 

"The China-app TikTok should be under the special surveillance of the European authorities," he wrote in an email. "The fight between autocratic and democratic systems will also be fought via digital platforms. Europe has to wake up."

In Switzerland, lawmakers called earlier this month for a ban on officials' phones.


Call for a ban


So far, though, no European government or public body has followed the U.S. in banning TikTok usage on officials' phones. In response to questions from POLITICO, a spokesperson for the European Commission — which previously advised its employees against using Meta's WhatsApp — wrote that any restriction on TikTok usage for EU civil servants would "require a political decision and will be based on the careful assessment of data protection cybersecurity concerns, and others."

The spokesperson also pointed out that "there are no official Commission accounts" on TikTok.

A spokesperson for the European Parliament said its services "continuously monitor" for cybersecurity issues, but that "due to the nature of security matters, we don't comment further on specific platforms."

POLITICO reached out to cybersecurity agencies for the EU, the U.K. and Germany to ask if they had or were planning any restrictions or recommendations having to do with TikTok. None flagged any specific restrictions, which doesn't mean there aren't any. In Germany, for example, officials who use iPhones can’t use or download TikTok in the section of their phone where confidential data can be accessed.

The European Commission has previously advised its employees against using Meta's WhatsApp


For Hamburg's data protection agency, one of 16 in Germany's federal system, restricting TikTok on official phones would be a good idea.

"Based on what we know from the available sources, we share, among other things, the concerns of the U.S. government that you mentioned and would therefore welcome it appropriate for government agencies in the EU to refrain from using TikTok," a spokesperson said.

This suggests that the most immediate public threat for TikTok in Europe is privacy-related. Of the two probes being conducted by Ireland's privacy regulator, the one looking into child safety on the app is the closest to wrapping up, according to a spokesperson for the Irish Data Protection Commission.

Depending on the outcome of discussions between EU privacy regulators — the child safety probe is likely to trigger a dispute resolution mechanism — TikTok could face new requirements to verify age in the EU. The other probe, looking into TikTok's transfers of data to China, is likely to wrap up around mid-year or toward the end of 2023 if a dispute is triggered, the spokesperson said.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
French wine makers have seen catastrophic damage to vines that were almost ready to be harvested after the worst fires in more than 70 years burned through the south of the country
US Lawmaker Probes Intel CEO’s China Ties Amid National Security Concerns
Brazilian President Lula says he’ll contact the leaders of BRICS states to propose a unified response to U.S. tariffs
Trump Open to Meeting Putin as Soon as Next Week, with Possible Trilateral Summit Including Zelenskiy
Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau spark dating rumors, joining high stakes world of celeb-politician romances
US envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow to seek a breakthrough in the Ukraine war ahead of President Trump’s peace deadline
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Karol Nawrocki Inaugurated as Poland’s President, Setting Stage for Clash with Tusk Government
Trump Signals JD Vance as ‘Most Likely’ MAGA Successor for 2028
US Charges Two Chinese Nationals for Illegal Nvidia AI Chip Exports
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
U.S. Tariff Policy Triggers Market Volatility Amid Growing Global Trade Tensions
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
Representative Greene Urges H-1B Visa Cuts Amid U.S.-India Trade Tensions
U.S. House Committee Subpoenas Clintons and Senior Officials in Epstein Investigation
Sydney Sweeney Registered as Republican as Controversial American Eagle Ad Sparks Debate
Trump Accuses Major Banks of Politically Motivated Account Denials and Prepares Executive Order
TikTok Removes Huda Kattan Video Over Anti-Israel Conspiracy Claims
Trump Threatens Tariffs on India Over Russian Oil Imports
German Finance Minister Criticizes Trump’s Attacks on Institutions
U.S. Proposes Visa Bond of Up to $15,000 for Some Applicants
U.S. Farmers Increase Lobbying Amid Immigration Crackdown
Elon Musk Receives $23.7 Billion Tesla Stock Award
Texas House Paralyzed After Democrats Walk Out Over Redistricting
Mexican Cartels Complicate Sheinbaum’s U.S. Security Talks
Mark Zuckerberg Declares War on the iPhone
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
Tesla Seeks Shareholder Approval for $29 Billion Compensation Package for Elon Musk
Nvidia is cutting prices on its RTX 50-series graphics cards after sales slowed and inventories piled up
Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to Minimum-Security Prison Amid Ongoing DOJ Discussions
U.S. Tariffs Surge to Highest Levels in Nearly a Century Under Second Trump Term
×