The Supreme Court of Venezuela has fined the Chinese social network TikTok $10 million over viral video challenges that have killed three people and injured dozens of teenagers in the country in recent months.
The Supreme Court of Venezuela has fined the Chinese social network TikTok $10 million over viral video challenges that have killed three people and injured dozens of teenagers in the country in recent months.
In its ruling, the court said the social network must pay a fine to the country’s telecommunications agency within the next 10 days, Bloomberg writes.
The court also ordered TikTok to open an office in Venezuela.
Last month, a court summoned TikTok representatives to consider the death of three children aged 12, 13 and 14 after they participated in challenges that, according to the country’s President Nicolas Maduro, involved swallowing and inhaling various dangerous mixtures of chemicals.
The judges said TikTok should share responsibility for the «lack of timely control» on its platform. The money from the fine will supposedly go to a compensation fund for victims.
In turn, the publication recalls that dictator Maduro attacked social media platforms such as TikTok and WhatsApp after a wave of repression by the regime against the resistance movement to his self-proclaimed victory in the presidential elections in July.
Earlier this year, he asked his supporters to delete WhatsApp because, he said, the app was being used by «fascists» to spread violence.
As dev.ua wrote, there have also been attempts to restrict TikTok in Ukraine. In the summer, an electronic petition was registered on the President’s website, the author of which demands that a draft law be submitted to the Rada for consideration to block TikTok in Ukraine and ban the use of the social network on the phones of government officials and military personnel.
