Italy’s competition and consumer authority, the AGCM, has fined TikTok €10 million (almost $11 million) after a consumer safety probe focused on how the platform handles potentially harmful content and recommends it to users.
The case began with the “French scar” challenge, where users were reported to have posted videos showing facial marks made by pinching their skin. But the regulator’s decision reaches beyond one challenge. It puts TikTok’s content moderation, platform guidelines and algorithmic profiling under direct scrutiny.
Why Italy fined TikTok
In a press release Thursday, the AGCM said three regional companies in the ByteDance group had been sanctioned: Ireland-based TikTok Technology Limited, TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited and TikTok Italy Srl.
The authority described the conduct as an “unfair commercial practice.” Its concern was not only that risky content appeared on the platform, but that TikTok did not use appropriate systems to monitor material that could threaten the safety of minors and vulnerable individuals.
The AGCM said its investigation confirmed TikTok’s responsibility in spreading content “likely to threaten the psycho-physical safety of users, especially if minor and vulnerable,” including videos connected to the “French scar” challenge.
According to the authority, TikTok also failed to take adequate steps to stop that content from spreading. The regulator said the platform did not fully comply with its own guidelines.
The algorithm is central to the case
A key part of the AGCM’s decision is TikTok’s recommendation system. The authority said the same kind of content could be repeatedly shown to users because of algorithmic profiling, encouraging more use of the social network.
That point matters because TikTok’s “For You” and “Followed” feeds are based by default on algorithmic profiling. The system tracks digital activity to decide what content to show users.
The AGCM linked that design to engagement. It said the platform has an incentive to increase interactions and time spent on the service because that can support ad revenue.
The regulator also argued that this creates “undue conditioning” of users by pushing them toward greater platform use. That is a notable criticism because it targets the engagement model itself, not just a single category of content.
Teen safety is the regulator’s focus
The AGCM said TikTok applies its guidelines “without adequately accounting for the specific vulnerability of adolescents.” The authority pointed to the fact that teens’ brains are still developing and that young people can be vulnerable to peer pressure.
In plain terms, the regulator’s concern is that some users may be more likely to copy group behavior in order to fit in socially. When a recommendation system keeps resurfacing content, that risk can become more serious for minors and vulnerable individuals.
The “French scar” challenge is the example at the center of the Italian case. But the broader issue is whether platform rules and automated recommendations are strong enough when content may affect the psycho-physical safety of users.
The decision adds pressure to a question already being raised in Europe: should profiling-based content feeds be the default for users, especially younger ones?
How TikTok responded
TikTok disputes the AGCM’s decision. The company framed the matter as involving a single controversial but limited challenge.
In its statement, TikTok said the so-called “French Scar” content averaged just 100 daily searches in Italy before the AGCM’s announcement last year. It also said it had already restricted visibility of this content to U18s and made it ineligible for the For You feed.
That response shows the core disagreement. The AGCM is treating the case as a platform safety and algorithmic accountability issue. TikTok is emphasizing the scale of the challenge and the steps it says it had already taken.
A wider European and U.S. pressure campaign
The Italian enforcement action applies to one EU member state. But TikTok is also under the oversight of the European Commission for algorithmic accountability and transparency obligations under the pan-EU Digital Services Act (DSA).
Under the DSA, penalties for noncompliance can scale up to 6% of global annual turnover. TikTok was designated as a very large platform under the DSA back in April last year, with compliance expected by late summer.
One DSA-related change is that TikTok now offers users non-profiling based feeds. However, those alternatives are off by default, meaning users remain subject to AI-based tracking and profiling unless they choose to turn them off.
Last month, the EU opened a formal investigation of TikTok. The areas of focus include addictive design, harmful content and the protection of minors. That procedure remains ongoing.
TikTok has said it looks forward to the opportunity to provide the Commission with a detailed explanation of its approach to safeguarding minors.
The platform has also faced earlier regional scrutiny over child safety. The source article notes a child safeguarding intervention by the Italian data protection authority, a fine of €345 million last fall over data protection failures related to minors, and long-running complaints from consumer protection groups worried about minor safety and profiling.
More regulation could also come from member state-level agencies applying the bloc’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive. Ireland’s Coimisiún na Meán has been considering rules for video sharing platforms that would require recommender algorithms based on profiling to be turned off by default.
The pressure is not limited to Europe. In the U.S., lawmakers have proposed a bill to ban TikTok unless it cuts ties with Chinese parent ByteDance, citing national security and the possibility that tracking and profiling could give a foreign government a route to manipulate Americans.
For TikTok, the Italian fine is another sign that regulators are looking closely at how algorithmic feeds shape user behavior. The legal and political questions are no longer only about what content appears online, but also about how platforms decide who sees it, how often, and by default.