TikTok has been given 24 hours to respond to the European Commission about the version of the app that pays users to watch videos. TikTok Lite launched in France and Spain this week. European Commissioner Thierry Breton compared this to the concept of ‘soft’ cigarettes and wondered whether they were ‘narcotic and poisonous’. ” Reports Technology News
TikTok said in a statement that it would “respond to requests for information.”
says it currently has no plans to launch the Lite app in other European countries. A lightweight version of the app, Lite’s Tasks and Rewards feature rewards users with the equivalent of a few cents a day for watching videos and working with apps. The European Commission has asked TikTok for details of the impact assessment it conducted before launching the feature. Concerns relate to the impact on children, mental health and addiction.
The Commission said it was seeking information “on the measures the website has taken to reduce these risks” and set a deadline of April 26. Under Tasks and Rewards, users can earn money for “tasks” such as watching, liking, or sharing videos. According to TikTok, the maximum daily watch time for rewards is one hour, and users can earn no more than €1 (£0.85) per day. Users must also prove that they are over 18 years of age to claim rewards.
As the French newspaper Le Monde tried to point out, users can only receive rewards for the videos served by their algorithmic feeds, not for the videos they specifically searched for.
