Italy opens probe into Chinese-owned TikTok

MILAN Italy's antitrust authority said on Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into Chinese-owned TikTok, as it allegedly broke its rules by allowing the publication of dangerous content that can lead to suicide, self-harm and poor nutrition.

The watchdog said that the investigation involves TikTok's Irish unit, which is responsible for its European customers relations, as well as the British and Italian divisions. Italy's tax police visited the Italian headquarters of the app on Tuesday.

With growing international concern about the possibility of the Chinese government access to users' location and contact data, TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is facing tighter regulation.

The Italian authority said that there are numerous videos of young people adopting self-harming behaviour on the platform, such as the recent French scar' face-marking challenge that has become viral.

According to the watchdog, adequate systems are lacking to supervise content published by third parties, and the app is in violation of TikTok's guidelines which provide for the removal of dangerous content.

The antitrust body also has reservations about the exploitation of artificial intelligence techniques that could cause unnecessary conditioning of TikTok's users.

TikTok did not respond immediately to requests for comment from Reuters.