It looks like social media giant TikTok is ending 2024 on a low after a top court in Venezuela fined the company $10 million.
The lawsuit pertains to the app’s viral and alarming death challenges which officials claim left three youngsters dead. They are believed to have been intoxicated by dangerous chemical materials, the lawsuit alleges.
The full message from Tribunal Supremo de Justicia Venezuela, seen and translated by Digital Information World:
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The case is certainly a major one as TikTok which is very popular amongst the youth was called out as negligent for ignoring the growing threats seen on the app. It also failed to launch necessary measures that prevents the spread of such alarming content that encourages others to take on these kinds of challenges.
The platform that comes under the ownership of Chinese-based ByteDance is already facing the hardships of being banned in the US. Now, it’s receiving orders to open up offices inside Venezuela. This comes with a deadline for paying the fine or facing serious legal action.
The funds would be used to produce another TikTok victims program that would compensate all those impacted by the matter. This includes providing them with the right kind of compensation if they were children or teens.
The firm explained to the court how it does understand that this matter is serious. But that’s not good enough, the court shared. It felt that the figures were alarming as it involved 3 people dying and more than 200 getting intoxicated around the country. As per the lawsuit, many ended up ingesting dangerous chemicals as part of this challenge.
Today, the social media app’s mega-global success has to do with its wide array of unique challenges. It’s an invitation that wants users to make more videos featuring different activities that could help it go viral. Now this is why TikTok keeps getting accused of putting many people at risk due to such content going viral.
While the app tried to justify its stance by talking about policies inhibiting content that promotes self-harm or taking one’s life, this case puts a lot into perspective for the world. We’ve already seen the country’s president warn the app to take the right measures or face consequences. These were labeled as criminal challenges that put one’s life at risk.
There are more reports about the parliament also coming up with a better legal framework to tackle such issues as they promoted issues like division and hatred in society. Some allegations were also made against tech billionaire Elon Musk for orchestrating such attacks in the country. So far, Musk has yet to speak on the matter publicly.
Image: DIW
Read next: US Secret Service Admits to Tracking People with Location Details Taken Without Consent
The lawsuit pertains to the app’s viral and alarming death challenges which officials claim left three youngsters dead. They are believed to have been intoxicated by dangerous chemical materials, the lawsuit alleges.
The full message from Tribunal Supremo de Justicia Venezuela, seen and translated by Digital Information World:
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The Venezuelan Judiciary, with a view to protecting and safeguarding children and adolescents from harmful content, issued a statement through the Constitutional Chamber of the TSJ to control the use of the social network TikTok.The Constitutional Chamber of the TSJ assigned a fine of 10 million dollars to the aforementioned platform that must be paid within a period of 8 days to the National Telecommunications Commission of Venezuela (Conatel).In addition, it was required to establish a headquarters for the offices of TikTok in Venezuela for preventive control of the dissemination of its content and the creation of a fund to cover the psychological, physical and emotional damages to the affected families.The decision was issued by the President of the Constitutional Chamber, Magistrate Tania D'Amelio Cardiet, accompanied by Magistrate Lourdes Benicia Suárez Anderson, vice president of the Constitutional Chamber; Magistrate Luis Fernando Damiani Bustillos; Judge Michel Adriana Velásquez Grillet; Judge Janette Trinidad Córdova Castro, members of the Constitutional Court.
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The case is certainly a major one as TikTok which is very popular amongst the youth was called out as negligent for ignoring the growing threats seen on the app. It also failed to launch necessary measures that prevents the spread of such alarming content that encourages others to take on these kinds of challenges.
The platform that comes under the ownership of Chinese-based ByteDance is already facing the hardships of being banned in the US. Now, it’s receiving orders to open up offices inside Venezuela. This comes with a deadline for paying the fine or facing serious legal action.
The funds would be used to produce another TikTok victims program that would compensate all those impacted by the matter. This includes providing them with the right kind of compensation if they were children or teens.
The firm explained to the court how it does understand that this matter is serious. But that’s not good enough, the court shared. It felt that the figures were alarming as it involved 3 people dying and more than 200 getting intoxicated around the country. As per the lawsuit, many ended up ingesting dangerous chemicals as part of this challenge.
Today, the social media app’s mega-global success has to do with its wide array of unique challenges. It’s an invitation that wants users to make more videos featuring different activities that could help it go viral. Now this is why TikTok keeps getting accused of putting many people at risk due to such content going viral.
While the app tried to justify its stance by talking about policies inhibiting content that promotes self-harm or taking one’s life, this case puts a lot into perspective for the world. We’ve already seen the country’s president warn the app to take the right measures or face consequences. These were labeled as criminal challenges that put one’s life at risk.
There are more reports about the parliament also coming up with a better legal framework to tackle such issues as they promoted issues like division and hatred in society. Some allegations were also made against tech billionaire Elon Musk for orchestrating such attacks in the country. So far, Musk has yet to speak on the matter publicly.
Read next: US Secret Service Admits to Tracking People with Location Details Taken Without Consent
