TikTok is under scrutiny by the French justice system following a shocking experiment conducted by the Ministry of Education.

While social media is facing increased scrutiny in Europe, accused of fostering addiction among minors, a new milestone has just been reached for TikTok in France.

Indeed, the Minister of National Education, Édouard Geffray, announced that he had filed a complaint with the courts after conducting an experiment to test how the social network's algorithm works, using a teenager's account…

A test carried out with a teenager's account

To support his complaint, in a self-harm tutorials and videos depicting suicide.

For the minister, these results are not a coincidence, and he believes that the social network's algorithm can trap some teenagers in what he calls "deadly spirals", by progressively offering them increasingly sensitive content.

And to support his report, Édouard Geffray indicates that he has sent the Paris public prosecutor a USB drive containing the complete recording of the experience…

Three new grievances added to the investigation

The referral to the courts is based on the article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and targets several potential offences. The report specifically mentions incitement to suicide, the processing of illegal data, and the transfer of illegal data. This action comes in addition to a preliminary investigation by the Paris prosecutor's office, following a report by Socialist MP Arthur Delaporte, who had already denounced the potentially harmful influence of TikTok's algorithm on minors. For his part, the minister distinguishes between two categories of problematic content: those deemed "abnormal but legal," and those that fall directly under the category of illegality. But in both cases, they could contribute to steering some young users towards dangerous content.

A political debate that intensifies

Finally, this initiative comes at a critical time when the issue of minors' access to social networks is increasingly debated in France, as in other European countries. The Senate committee recently adopted a bill aimed at prohibiting the use of social networks by those under 15.

Faced with these potential abuses, TikTok claims to have more than fifty security features, notably with a recent update in January. However, the judicial investigation could bring new elements to light on the actual workings of its algorithm, and lead to difficult decisions for the social network…