TikTok failed to block child abuse videos, group says

Spanish anti-disinformation group Maldita.es accused TikTok on Monday of failing to do enough to stop child sexual abuse material and attempts to solicit images from children on the platform.

“Material you would expect to find only on the dark web is on TikTok,” Maldita.es said.

The group said its investigation catalogued more than 1,000 videos of child abuse footage, which had been viewed a total of 48 million times. It said the findings called into question the effectiveness of TikTok’s measures against child abuse and suggested platform features were being exploited by child predators.

According to Maldita.es, TikTok removed only one-tenth of the content the group had flagged and blocked just 26 percent of illegal posts in Spain.

TikTok had not responded to an AFP request for comment. The platform, owned by ByteDance, has faced lawsuits and investigations over claims that it has failed to protect minors, accusations the company has frequently denied.

On Friday, the European Union told TikTok to change what it called the “harmful” design of its personalised For You feed or risk large fines under the bloc’s digital content rules.