TikTok Lite: the rewards system suspended in Europe
This Wednesday, April 24, TikTok announced that it had “voluntarily” suspended the reward functionality on TikTok Lite, an application deployed in France and Spain at the beginning of April. This suspension is planned for an initial period of 60 days.
As a reminder, this option allowed you to obtain Amazon vouchers in exchange for actions carried out on the platform: following creators, liking videos, spending several minutes watching content, etc. This suspension is effective throughout the EU, as TikTok specifies in a post on X:
TikTok always seeks to engage constructively with the European Commission and other regulators. That's why we're voluntarily suspending reward features in TikTok Lite while we address the concerns they've raised.
The European Commission forces TikTok to fold.
This decision comes following a “formal procedure," in other words, an investigation, opened by the European Commission on April 17. Brussels had ordered TikTok to produce a report within the next 24 hours—a deadline extended to April 23—on the risks and negative effects on mental health that this rewards program can cause. The Commission had also threatened to suspend the functionality of TikTok Lite.
Finally, given TikTok's inability to provide a report, the social network preferred to suspend the functionality of its application itself.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton reacted directly to the announcement: “Our children are not guinea pigs for social media. […] The proceedings initiated against TikTok concerning the risk of dependence on the platform are continuing.”
Our children are not guinea pigs for social media.
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) April 24, 2024
I take note of TikTok’s decision to suspend the #TikTokLite “Reward Program” in the EU.
The cases against TikTok on the risk of addictiveness of the platform continue.#DSA ensures the safety of our 🇪🇺 online space. https://t.co/J1oI6zNI97
In the United States, TikTok is also up against the wall.
Alongside the suspension of the rewards option on TikTok Lite, tension also continues to rise on the other side of the Atlantic. Indeed, after the approval of the American Congress concerning the obligation of the ByteDance group to sell its American activity within a year, under penalty of being completely banned in the United States, Joe Biden has also just approved the project of law. Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, immediately spoke out, declaring that “this unconstitutional law is a ban on TikTok, and we will challenge it in court. We believe that the facts and the law are clearly on our side and that we will ultimately prevail.”
The ban would have a devastating effect on 7 million businesses and silence 170 million Americans, Shou Zi Chew said.
@tiktok Response to TikTok Ban Bill
♬ original sound - TikTok