TikTok to Voluntarily Perform ‘Stress Test’ Ahead of EU Digital Services Act

Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok has voluntarily agreed to a "stress test" to prepare for the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on Tuesday.

Under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), Alphabet unit Google, Meta and other large online platforms will risk hefty fines if they do not control illegal content.

TikTok will also be subject to the DSA rules, which require companies to manage risk, conduct external and independent auditing, share data with authorities and adopt a code of conduct. Those rules come into effect from August.

"Recent events have shown the impact TikTok has on democracies — and how important independent EU enforcement is," wrote Breton on Twitter.

"TikTok voluntarily agreed to perform a #StressTest to prepare for #DSA. Constructive debrief with CEO Shou Zi Chew. Now is time to accelerate to be fully compliant," added Breton, whose Twitter post showed him in a video link exchange with the TikTok boss.

Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers are considering changes to address concerns about a bill that would give the Biden administration new powers to ban Chinese-owned TikTok, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee who has cosponsored the legislation said on Monday.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner told Reuters that aggressive lobbying by the ByteDance-owned short video app TikTok against the Restrict Act "slowed a bit of our momentum" after it was introduced in March.

Warner said lawmakers have "a proposal on a series of amendments to make it explicitly clear" and address criticisms, including that individual Americans could be impacted or that the bill represents a broad expansion of government power.

© Thomson Reuters 2023

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