EU scrutiny turns to safer defaults for young people’s accounts
The European Commission has issued preliminary findings that TikTok’s account settings for minors do not meet Digital Services Act safety standards, focusing on public visibility and the recommendation of young people’s content.
What it could improve
Requiring safer visibility defaults could reduce the unintended exposure and distribution of young people’s content. The action also demonstrates that safety expectations can be applied to product settings and recommendation systems, rather than relying only on warnings or parental supervision.
What remains unresolved
The findings are preliminary and concern particular account and recommendation practices. Even if those settings change, questions remain about persuasive design, harmful content, unwanted contact, digital wellbeing and the consistency of protection across other services used by children.
The Child-Friendly Internet perspective
This is an important example of the digital environment adapting by default. A fuller child-friendly approach would connect appropriate service settings with privacy-preserving context, consistent safeguards and accountability across the wider ecosystem—not one platform at a time.