EU Charges TikTok for a Third Time: How Default Settings Expose Minors to Predators — and What Happens Next

The finding is narrow but pointed: TikTok is not being charged for lacking safety features, but for designing those features in a way that children can easily bypass them .

TikTok's Full EU Enforcement Timeline

This latest action is part of a two-year regulatory onslaught against TikTok under the DSA and other EU laws.

Separate non-DSA fines (imposed under GDPR by the Irish Data Protection Commission):

• €345 million (September 2023) — for violating children's data privacy, particularly around age verification and privacy settings in 2020 .
• €530 million (May 2, 2025) — for unlawful transfers of EEA user data to China, with an order to halt transfers unless compliance is achieved within six months .

The Broader EU Push: Beyond TikTok

The Commission's actions against TikTok are unfolding alongside a much wider European drive to protect children online. Key milestones include:

• July 2025: The Commission published DSA guidelines on protecting minors, setting out measures to address risks like grooming and harmful content .
• October 2025: The European Parliament called for an EU-wide digital minimum age of 16 and stressed that platforms must make services "safe by design" rather than shifting responsibility to parents .
• May 12, 2026: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced plans for a Digital Fairness Act, which would impose restrictions on social media including an age limit and requirements for safety-by-design, specifically targeting "addictive designs" .
• July 13, 2026: A special panel on child safety online delivered a report to von der Leyen recommending that social media access be restricted for children under 13 until platforms can prove their services are safe .
• July 24, 2026: The Commission published a child safety online document stating that "the burden of proof needs to be on providers, not regulators, parents and children" until platforms demonstrate their services are safe by design .

What Happens Next: Potential Consequences

TikTok now has the right to respond to the preliminary findings and defend itself before the Commission decides on a final non-compliance decision . If the Commission confirms its preliminary view, it can impose:

• Fines of up to 6% of TikTok's global annual turnover . Given TikTok's parent company ByteDance reported revenue of over $120 billion in 2025, this could amount to billions of dollars.
• Additional corrective measures requiring TikTok to change its default settings and design features for minors .

The company has stated that its teen accounts already include more than 50 privacy and safety features and that it will review the findings .