Spain pushes to suspend TikTok after probe into child sex abuse videos

Spain has asked its data protection agency to temporarily suspend TikTok after an independent investigation found more than 1,000 child sexual abuse videos on the platform with a total of 48 million views.

Spain’s Youth and Children Minister Sira Rego said she met with social media platform’s representatives on Tuesday and described the requested suspension as an exceptional measure. Rego said she had urged TikTok to suspend its services voluntarily.

“It is not up to the government to suspend TikTok as a precaution. If it were up to us, it would have been suspended yesterday,” she told reporters after the meeting.

Rego said TikTok, which is owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, pledged to “study and evaluate” the findings during the meeting but offered no commitments to an audit or new verification measures.

Spanish foundation Maldita.es said it detected more than 20,000 profiles of suspected paedophiles – 7,000 of them in Spanish – during the 35 days it monitored the popular video-blogging platform in September and October.

The nonprofit organisation, which aims to combat disinformation and promote transparency, also accused TikTok of amplifying content by minors in the algorithm, and profiting from their abuse.

“Abuse is not hidden away in a little corner and it is not hard to find,” Clara Jimenez Cruz, Maldita.es cofounder and chief executive, said.

During its investigation, “TikTok: Home to predators”, Maldita.es said it analysed profiles, comments and live broadcasts and created its own accounts to see how the algorithm responded.

It said that in just three days the algorithm recommended 19 livestreams by minors, including 15 in a single morning, all recorded from schools.

In one instance, Maldita.es said TikTok recommended a livestream from a 10-year-old girl in Spain who received suggestive comments from an adult male during the broadcast.

“Not only are [children] objectified, but they’re also asked to perform sexualised actions in exchange for TikTok gifts in the form of objects or animated animals that cost the user money,” Maldita.es said, claiming that the platform then takes a portion of the money spent, although the exact amount is unclear.

‘Material you would expect to find only on the dark web’

The Maldita.es investigation identified 231 profiles that posted 1,183 explicit items of content, 780 accounts that use the network to attract buyers and more than 10,000 that ask for exchanges of sexual images in the comments.

When all the categories set out in the report were collated, the foundation said it detected some 26,000 accounts of suspected paedophiles, and had handed those details to authorities.

“Material you would expect to find only on the dark web is on TikTok,” Maldita.es said. “The findings of this investigation seriously call into question the effectiveness of TikTok’s measures against child abuse, and also point directly to its platform features being actively exploited by child predators.”

The organisation said that when its findings were published on Monday, TikTok had removed just one-tenth of the content it had flagged and had blocked only a quarter of illegal posts in Spain.

TikTok is facing a wave of lawsuits and investigations over accusations that it has failed to protect minors, accusations it has denied.

On Friday, the European Union told TikTok to change the “harmful” design of its personalised “For You” feed or risk large fines under the bloc’s digital content rules.

Under EU data protection rules, Spain’s data protection agency can impose temporary measures for up to three months if it deems urgent action is necessary to protect citizens.