TikTok suspends its TikTok Lite rewards program in the EU amid regulatory scrutiny

TikTok suspends its TikTok Lite rewards program in the EU amid regulatory scrutiny

TikTok said on Wednesday it would suspend a controversial program in the European Union that has caused growing concern among EU regulators.

The program at issue appears in TikTok Lite, a less data-intensive version of the main TikTok app, and which contains a feature that rewards users with cash for engaging with the content and features of the TikTok app. TikTok said it “voluntarily” suspended the rewards program after the European Commission announced on Monday it could impose mandatory fines and suspensions over concerns that the feature could encourage addiction by encouraging users to interact with the platform more.

“TikTok has always sought to engage constructively with the EU Commission and other regulators,” TikTok said in a post on X. “Therefore, we have voluntarily suspended the reward functionality in TikTok Lite while we address the concerns they have raised.”

The EU’s warning to TikTok reflects the implementation of new surveillance powers granted by the Digital Services Act, the recently enacted trade bloc law that regulates the online platform. When opening an investigation into TikTok Lite earlier this week, the European Commission said that TikTok could be fined for failing to provide the Commission with the information it is owed about the app, including a risk assessment report and a separate report outlining the steps the company has taken to minimize those risks.

Failure to submit risk assessments and risk mitigation reports could result in fines of up to 1% of TikTok’s global annual revenue and “periodic penalties” of up to 5% of TikTok’s average daily revenue, the Commission previously said. TikTok also faces further, additional fines of up to 6% of its global annual revenue if the TikTok Lite feature is determined to be in violation of the DSA.

TikTok’s move to suspend TikTok Lite’s rewards feature in Europe, meanwhile, comes as it faces its biggest threat to its operations in the United States. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok, after Congress passed the bill earlier this week as part of a sweeping foreign aid package to support Israel and Ukraine. Under current US law, TikTok would have to find a new owner within months or be banned from the United States entirely.