– I do not rule it out, answered European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen when she was recently asked in an election debate whether the EU could introduce a ban on Tiktok similar to what the US is threatening.
Just a few days earlier, Tiktok sent an invitation to NTB and a number of other media in Brussels to an information meeting on how they will deal with the flood of fake news and propaganda ahead of the EU elections, which will take place in just under a month.
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– Ahead of the EU elections 2024, TikTok’s focus is to protect the integrity of our platform, says the invitation.
Project Clover
The press is let into the premises that Tiktok has rented in Brussels in groups. Not too many at a time, seems to be the motto.
The meeting is chaired by the platform’s PR and government director in Europe, Caroline Greer, and director of data policy, Jade Nester.
Tiktok’s most important move in Europe is to build its own data centers, two in Ireland and one in Norway, where all the information about the platform’s nearly 150 million European users will be stored.
Project Clover, they call it.
Access to this data is strictly limited and carefully controlled. Employees in China must not have access, especially not to sensitive data such as IP addresses, telephone numbers and e-mails.
Army of fact checkers
The whole thing is to be monitored by an independent third party, specifically the consultancy company NCC Group.
In addition, Tiktok has hired an entire army of fact-checkers and 6,000 moderators, who are on duty 24/7 to check that all information posted is correct.
The company cooperates with, among other things, well-known news agencies such as Reuters and AFP.
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Posts that contain obviously fake news, harmful disinformation, threats or hints of terrorism will be removed immediately.
Posts with questionable or AI-generated content that cannot be verified will be flagged.
In the gray area
Recently, the EU has been inundated with fake news about the elections.
How many have been discovered on Tiktok and removed, and how the company handles posts that are in the gray zone, the two directors could not immediately answer.
In contrast, they could say that Tiktok will invest 12 billion euros in the security systems.
The company must also comply with the EU’s new Act on Digital Services DSA, which sets strict requirements for the companies.
Just over a week ago, Tiktok had to remove a reward system in its new “Lite” app after the EU reacted.
Fear in the United States
In April, the US Congress decided that Tiktok’s partly Chinese-owned parent company Bytedance must sell its operations in the US within nine months. If not, the app will be banned.
The reason is fear that information about the users could end up in the hands of the Chinese authorities.
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In 2018, China changed its security law and required every organisation, company and person to cooperate with the authorities on intelligence.
This means that Bytedance is legally obliged to share information, which the US therefore considers to be a security risk.
On Tuesday, it became known that Bytedance is suing the US in the hope of stopping the law.
No reason to fear
In Europe there is no reason for fear, according to Greer and Nester.
That data located in Europe should end up in Chinese hands is almost unthinkable, according to the Tiktok directors.
– We understand that we are assessed more strictly than others. But we are working hard to overcome the concerns, says Nester to NTB.
In any case, there is a long way to go before a possible ban on Tiktok Europe. Because the appetite for such a ban is small.
Against a ban
– I am against it, says Dutch Kim van Sparrentak, who represents the Greens in the EU Parliament, to Politico.
She has been central to the work with the EU’s new laws in the digital area.
– Why should we ban Tiktok in Croatia, Hungary or Poland if we don’t want to, asks Croatian President Zoran Milanovic.
Tiktok is also widely used among the EU’s heavyweights. German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz adopted the app in April, while French President Emmanuel Macron already has 4.5 million followers.
(© NTB)
