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The European Commission was concerned that this feature could encourage addictive behaviours in users, particularly in children.
TikTok has agreed to permanently withdraw its TikTok Lite rewards programme from the EU in order to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA).
This decision follows concerns from the EU that the app’s so-called ‘task and reward’ feature could cause serious damage to mental health, particularly in children. This TikTok Lite app feature incentivises users to perform certain tasks – such as watching videos, liking content, following specific creators and inviting other friends to TikTok – in exchange for points.
The Lite app launched in France and Spain earlier this year, but it drew the attention of the European Commission in April. The Commission said it was concerned that such programmes may encourage addictive behaviours in users of the app, particularly in people younger than 18.
Under the DSA, certain platforms are subject to extra rules, such as submitting risk assessment reports before launching any features that may pose systemic risks to European users. TikTok is one of those platforms.
Even though the Lite app’s task and reward functionality is only open to users over the age of 18, the Commission believes TikTok does not have effective age verification systems in place – something that is already under investigation in proceedings launched earlier this year.
As part of the agreement, TikTok has committed to withdraw the TikTok Lite rewards programme from the EU permanently. It also committed to not launch “any other programme which would circumvent the withdrawal”.
The Commission said this is the first time it has accepted commitments from a designated online platform against which it had opened formal proceedings under the DSA. EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said the decision sends a “clear message to the entire social media industry”.
“The safety and wellbeing of social media users need to be a number one priority,” Vestager said. “Design features on platforms with addictive effects put the wellbeing of their users at risk. That’s why we have made TikTok’s commitments under the DSA legally binding. We will carefully monitor TikTok’s compliance.”
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