TikTok to remove Lite app rewards programme targeted in landmark EU case

At the same time, it has not admitted any infringement, nor will it face a fine, under what is being described as a “commitment” settlement under the DSA.

“The available brain time of young Europeans is not a currency for social media – and it never will be,” Thierry Breton, the European Union’s internal market boss, said, announcing the agreement on Monday.

“We have obtained the permanent withdrawal of the TikTok Lite rewards programme, which could have had very addictive consequences. The DSA is in full swing.”

The “Task and Reward Programme” allowed users to earn points by, for example, watching videos, liking content, following creators and inviting friends to join TikTok. The commission saw this as potentially “rewarding excessive screen time” among minors.

“The rewards programme, which may stimulate addictive behaviour, could potentially have negative effects on the physical and mental health of users. This is of particular concern for minors, who may have a heightened sensitivity to such features,” the commission said.

After the commission launched its investigation, TikTok suspended the programme in the two countries – France and Spain – where it was already up and running.

Commission sources said Brussels had worked closely on the case with regulators in those two countries, as well as in Ireland, home to TikTok’s European headquarters.

A separate DSA investigation, launched in February, remains open.

This inquiry is looking into whether the algorithm on TikTok’s main app may have been intentionally designed to create “rabbit-hole effects”, which lead to “behavioural addictions”.

AliExpress is owned by Alibaba, which also owns the South China Morning Post.

Chinese firms have also been targeted in a series of trade and competition inquiries, with long-standing grievances over Beijing’s economic policies leading to increasingly trigger-happy behaviour from EU watchdogs.