France’s privacy watchdog opened a probe into TikTok on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. The Chinese-owned video-sharing app is facing ongoing scrutiny of its privacy policies in Europe, alongside takeover talk in the U.S.
The French authority, CNIL, is looking at a number of issues, including how the company communicates with users and the protection of children, a spokesman said Tuesday. The questions are part of an investigation into TikTok’s plan to set up a European Union headquarters for data purposes. The EU’s data protection chiefs in June pledged to coordinate potential investigations into the Chinese company, establishing a taskforce to get a better understanding of “TikTok’s processing and practices across the EU.” The EU taskforce would also likely give the final decision on plans by the company to set up an EU base for data purposes in Ireland. This could mean that future probes would be led by the Irish data authority, which is already the lead privacy regulator for tech giants, including Google, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.
Check It Out: TikTok Facing New Data Probe in France