“These videos promote extreme thinness. Protecting minors online is one of my priorities,” the minister said in a video posted to TikTok on Friday.
Following a request from Chappaz to French media regulator Arcom to look into the matter, Arcom told POLITICO it is working with the European Commission to investigate “given the public health risk” the trend may pose.
Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told POLITICO that the Commission is “aware of the issue raised” by France and is “ready to cooperate” with them.
The Commission opened a probe into TikTok’s algorithm and how it affects minors last February under the bloc’s content moderation rulebook, the Digital Services Act. As part of that investigation, the Commission is also investigating how TikTok’s algorithm promotes content around eating disorders. Regnier hinted that the Commission could now take further action under the existing probe.
The investigation remains at an early stage, a French regulatory official said. Talks between Arcom and TikTok are being set up, and discussions with the platform’s trust and safety teams in Dublin are expected shortly, they said.
Point de Contact, an organization recently named by Arcom as a “trusted flagger” under the Digital Services Act, also confirmed their teams are looking into the matter in coordination with authorities.
