TikTok, time's up.
TikTok did not properly assess how its addictive features can harm users, and they did not implement effective measures to mitigate such risks.
Today, Europe's rapid moves towards a social media ban for children.
European Union is sovereign when it comes to setting up their own rules, especially when it comes to minors protection online.
This is World Business Report from the BBC World Service.
I'm Ed Butler and today we're going to be looking at those latest EU rulings against TikTok and potentially a wider European ban on all social media platforms for children.
How is this going to work?
Also in the show a sense of impending economic crisis in Cuba and the ever crazier sums being spent by advertisers this year or for spots at the Super Bowl.
Well, first off, the European Commission has required the Chinese-owned video platform TikTok, to introduce changes to what it called its addictive design.
Features, including infinite scroll and autoplay were, according to the Commission the Commission spokesman, Thomas Rainier potentially harming the well-being of users, particularly minors and young adults.
And they were therefore in breach of digital content regulations.
TikTok reaches 170 million users in the European Union.
Most of these are children.
TikTok is by far the most used platform after midnight by children between 13 and 18.
These statistics are extremely alarming, especially for our kids, and this poses major risks to their mental health and well-being.
Well, the commission says that TikTok's existing screen time safeguards are ineffective.
And if their arguments are confirmed, it will impose a fine of up to 6 of the company's total worldwide annual turnover.
That is many billions of dollars.
We asked TikTok for their response.
A spokesperson told us in a written statement, the findings present a categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform.
We will take whatever steps are necessary to challenge them through every means available to us.
What does Sarah Hodge think about this?
She's a cyber psychologist at Bath Spa University.
Hi there, Dr. Hodge.
Thank you for joining us.
What do you reckon in general terms then?
Is it tenable by the commission to argue that the basic format, the architecture, if you like, of a platform like TikTok is promoting addiction?
It's a great question because there's been a lot of debate in the research about whether it would be an addiction and when it counts as addiction.
So it's really not clear at the moment, and it's quite divided, whether people do think it's an addiction from an academic point of view.
However, from an experiential point of view, like people actually using the platforms and this isn't just TikTok, this is other platforms that actually sometimes they feel like it's addictive and that in itself might need to actually be explored
Yeah, your study is then of users, children specifically, I guess.
The commission has talked about tools like infinite scroll autoplay, push notifications, something called a recommender system, which is highly personalised.
I mean, I guess we're familiar with things like this on other social platforms as well, aren't we?
I mean, are they a significant part?
Do you think of the problem that people find for these platforms?
I think it has a lot to play in how people use these platforms and how much time they spend.
A lot of these features can keep people on the platforms and their phones, whatever they're using, a bit longer than they intended to be, especially things like doom scrolling.
A lot of people of all ages say that they end up on their phone a lot longer than they really plan to.
Tell me about the core science.
I mean, what do we think then, particularly in the realm of children?
And we are talking primarily about children here.
People like the social scientist Jonathan Haidt, haven't?
They made big claims about the corrosive impact of social media attention deficit, loss of sleep, many other things as well as kind of, you know, relationship issues.
What do we know definitively?
Well definitively, it's still really difficult to get some of these answers, because some of it is still quite new.
Like, for example, TikTok is a short video.
Lots of other platforms offer short videos as well.
And there is some emerging research looking at these short videos and watching them and what kind of impact it might have.
And particularly on attention, it seems there could be an impact on attention spans.
But this is still kind of emerging as we sort of do more research in the area.
Is it specifically different for children?
Now, that is a really important factor to highlight because children are still developing.
They are a different demographic.
We don't know the answers to that yet.
We're still looking into that.
But we can imagine that, if we're already seeing that there are differences in adult populations, that we would expect to see the same impacts in children as well, when it comes to things like attention.
And, of course, their emotional development and other things which are vulnerable and are very important, I guess, at the ages we're talking about.
Exactly.
There's so many factors that children mean they could be quite vulnerable.
Even things like, if we're thinking about some of the generative AI content, what's real and what's not.
I think that's really challenging for even adults, but actually children, especially because they're still learning about what is real and how do they determine that.
Dr. Sarah Hodge, thank you very much indeed.
The TikTok findings of course come as several European countries are moving to curb access to social media generally for younger users.
Greece and Spain are two countries taking active steps right now towards introducing a social media ban for children.
Not everyone is happy about this. some of them including children.
Here's a response of two younger citizens, the Spanish teenager Carla, she's 14, and the 15-year-old Greek teenager Yanis.
I am completely against banning it in general, but I believe that the issue of parental control and such well, I generally have nothing against it.
If we put protocols and such in place so that parents are also focused on what their children are watching and all that, which is what my parents have been doing since they gave me my mobile phone, I think there really isn't any problem.
Certainly, for many kids it is an integral part of their lives and I don't think it is so easy for it to be taken away by a law, because this is the way they keep in contact and communicate with their friends.
Even though they are not speaking face to face.
I believe that by cutting off this type of communication will also cut off the relationship between the kids.
So is a ban among certain European countries actually imminent?
Let's hear from Clara Chappas.
She's France's ambassador for digital affairs and AI.
Protecting minors online has been a key priority pushed by President Emmanuel Macron for France for quite a while now.
And we're reaching a tipping point because, just 10 days ago, the parliament has voted a law that aims to ban social networks below 15-year-olds, with the idea that, if everything goes well, the implementation would be effective as early as September 2026, right on time for when the new kids will arrive at school.
So pretty soon, I think.
What is the evidence from Australia that you are seeing so far?
I mean, that was the first formal ban, wasn't it?
Yeah, we're seeing it as a successful experience in Australia, but also looking at our own experience in France getting proper age verification system on pornographic websites, which is something we've been implemented close to a year ago now.
And, as a result of that, close to half of the children who were previously accessing pornographic websites are not accessing it anymore.
So is it perfect?
Probably not.
I mean, with any rules, you can always find ways to circumvent all the people listening to us.
I mean, we've been underage and some of us probably have tried and drink alcohol being underage.
It's not because there is a law that it's completely perfect.
How is this going to be enforced?
I mean in Australia.
They have basically demanded that the social media platforms themselves self-regulate.
Otherwise, they're going to face a huge fine.
I mean, is that do you think the best way to actually apply this ban?
Yeah, what we're trying to do and this completely aligns with the mindset of the DSA and what we've seen now with the DSA with the 120 million fine on X and now this preliminary outcomes on the inquiry on TikTok's addictive design and the requirements for the commission to change those design is that the DSA has become an enforcing mechanism.
It's not just pure regulation framework.
It has become a mechanism to have platforms comply with our requirements.
And we have an amazingly deep 450 million consumer market.
But that comes at the expense of following our rules.
And if you don't follow those rules, big fines apply.
And this is something very important because again, when you're leaving your kid at the time like nighttime, like now, with their phone in their room and through their phone on social media,
It's like they're alone in the street.
And at the first corner, they can access adult content.
The second corner, they can access violent content.
The next one.
They are falling into an addictive trap, into these infinite rolls of sometimes very sad videos.
This is something that you would never let happen in real life, but you let it happen online, when you give them their phone and you don't know what's going on through those platforms.
Do you think that Europe's children are going to forgive you for doing this?
I mean, there's already plenty of generational tension, isn't there?
And there's an awful lot of children out there and we've heard from them in this program who really hate the idea of being shut off from their communities.
Actually, when you ask children, we ran a lot of surveys in France and I'm sure there are pretty much similar surveys all around globally.
Seven children out of 10 are asking for it.
They say that if they could know that their friends are not on those platforms, they would rather not live with it.
And if the platforms are not going to act by themselves, this is when the state comes in and say hey, this is too bad for our kids.
We need to protect our kids.
And I'm sure you had very similar debates when alcohol got forbidden to minors or when smoking cigarettes also got forbidden to minors.
This is when the state comes in and protects the population.
Laura Chappas, the French ambassador for digital affairs and AI, on the social media ban potential social media ban for children.
Chris Lowe, chief economist at FHN Financial in New York is with us.
On a political level, Chris.
Clearly a social media ban in Europe, countries like Spain Greece, France and so on.
It's not going to go down well on your side of the Atlantic, is it?
Probably not.
I mean, depending on how it's implemented and who it's for.
But, you know, even here we do have age limits.
And meta, for example, if for a Facebook account you're supposed to be over 13.
They're just not very strict and they're not well enforced.
So I suspect that, while people might grumble about it, The Trump administration probably will, won't it?
Yes, but the pushback as long as it's not a general you know all ages.
Ban the way China has done with some US providers.
I think they'll live with it.
OK, let's look on the markets now.
US stocks have rebounded today, haven't they?
We were talking potentially about an AI bubble yesterday, and now the Dow Jones has hit 50000 points.
Yeah, and I think a big part of it is that we probably, some of this selling was tax harvesting.
That is big capital gains.
Last year taxes owed, this year the tax dates coming up and people had to sell to raise cash.
The reason I say that is some of the hardest hit stocks.
Amazon, for example, was down 10 from yesterday.
At one point this morning
That stock did close down, but it closed down 5, meaning a pretty significant rally over the course of the day.
And a quick final word, Stellantis, a tough day for the carmaker.
Yeah, and this, you know, is something that goes beyond Stellantis.
It's global in nature.
It's that these companies made huge investments in going electric and the demand just hasn't been there.
Okay, thank you very much, Chris Lowe.
Here with World Business Report from the BBC World Service.
Now, Cuba has been long dependent on imported oil.
It has though, been facing a critical fuel shortage of late, after Venezuelan shipments, once its biggest supplier were disrupted amidst all of that US pressure on Caracas.
Now yesterday, the Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, said his government is trying to solve an energy crisis exacerbated by the US blocking of oil shipments to his country.
In response, the White House says diplomacy is now taking place, but that the Cuban government is on its last legs.
Let's hear what's going on from our correspondent there, Will Grant.
He's been in Havana just a few weeks ago.
How desperate does it feel right now, Will?
It's very, very desperate, to be honest, Ed.
I mean, I've been, as you say, there very recently.
I saw and spoke to people.
It really is the only topic of conversation with people.
You were seeing on petrol station forecourts, people were queuing for hours on end hoping to get the possibility of some kind of fuel for their cars, even if that meant paying in foreign currency, which sort of already divides people into those who have access to foreign currency and those who don't.
But it is a very, very tough picture for people right now.
Let's hear from some of those people in Havana.
We've got a recording of a few of them.
I'm Emilio Hernandez.
Two hours.
I've spent two hours waiting for the fuel tanker to arrive and no sign of it.
We don't know if it's coming.
And this is paying in dollars.
My name is Francisco Perez.
I've been here for five hours.
No tanker yet and no idea if it's coming.
They say it's coming, but who knows?
In Cuban pesos or foreign currency, whatever.
You just have to find a way to pay for it.
We have no other option.
The thoughts there of a couple of Havana motorists.
I mean.
Well firstly, I suppose they are going to be completely out of oil.
I guess potentially this weekend or something like it, if a solution isn't found.
Do we know what Washington is offering as some kind of compromise?
Because it seems like they hold all the chips effectively.
If Cuba is going to be out of fuel altogether,
Yeah, I think that's a very fair analysis, Ed.
I mean, if we pull back, as you say, from hearing the voices on the street, if we pull back and we think about this for a moment Venezuela, the main provider of oil, that's been knocked out and Washington is essentially in control now, as far as we understand, of the Venezuelan oil industry.
It is a complete red line from Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, that Venezuela sends any more oil to Cuba.
Mexico, where I am currently, they can't step up because they are going to be engaged in talks over renegotiated North American free trade agreement, the USMCA, over the summer.
And again, Washington made it abundantly clear that they don't expect Mexico to step up to fill the void of Venezuela.
Who's left in terms of Cuba's allies?
Russia obviously has its own issues. currently dedicating its resources to the war in Ukraine.
So the picture for the island is quite honestly the bleakest it has been this century.
We've heard from the President Diaz-Canel saying they're trying to find solutions, but one genuinely wonders what those solutions will be and exactly what they can offer to Washington beyond wholesale root-and-branch reform that would be acceptable to the Trump administration.
Yeah, and given Marco Rubio's history and his position on Cuba, you wonder what they would satisfy the White House short of regime change.
Exactly.
And I think that is the issue, because in Venezuela they've shown that they're willing to work with an interim government that involves the remnants of Nicolas Maduro's administration.
I'm not sure that that will be the case in the Cuban example.
And so it seems that the intention, as so stated by Marco Rubio himself, really is to basically squeeze the island now by cutting off its oil, to a point that the humanitarian crisis is such that there is some kind of reaction on the streets or requiring, from Washington's perspective, some kind of intervention.
But it's a very, very risky game.
And of course ordinary Cubans, like the one we heard at the beginning, are sort of trapped in the middle of all of that.
Well, Grant, thank you very much indeed.
Japan is heading to the polls on Sunday.
This after the Prime Minister, Sanae Takeuchi, called a snap election just months into her initial term.
With rising living costs at the forefront of voters' minds, Rahul Tandon has been examining Japan's changing and challenging economic landscape.
What is the key election issue?
Like many parts of the world, it's rising prices.
But Japan is different because for years prices never went up.
In fact, they often went down in what's known in economics as deflation.
For the past few weeks, politicians have been on the campaign trail in Japan.
And as they knock on doors, they're hearing lots about the price of Japan's staple food which, of course, is rice.
Let's get the thoughts of voters.
I still end up buying rice because I need it.
But the price has gone up and it's become really tough.
I can see how some people might not be able to get by anymore.
It's not something that only affects others.
It's hitting me too.
Over roughly the past year, rice prices have shot up suddenly.
And because of that, it's become something that's harder to eat.
I mean, not impossible, but it's definitely become harder to eat in large amounts.
I feel like that's the situation we're in now.
Now, many of you who are listening to this, I'm sure, have grown up living with inflation.
That's rising prices.
When you go to the shops, you're finding that your monthly bills are continually increasing.
But for many people in Japan and remember it has an ageing population it's an alien concept and we wanted to give you a sense of that.
So I spoke to the BBC's Mariko Oi, who grew up in Japan and still has family and friends there.
Basically, I grew up in Tokyo and for practically all my life I never really experienced anything getting more expensive.
So prices pretty much stayed the same.
And at some point, they actually went down.
And that's because the economy has been really, really stagnant.
It was growing really, really rapidly after the Second World War.
But then it hit that point when a lot of assets were overvalued.
And basically, you know, I'm not going to complicate it too much.
But asset prices, especially property prices, burst.
So they fell so sharply and it pushed the economy into decades of stagnation as a result.
So that's why people just aren't used to things getting more expensive.
As Mariko outlined there, that is the situation for consumers.
But what about businesses?
How has inflation and the decline in the value of the Japanese currency, the yen, affected them?
It's not just rice that's going up.
Everything is.
So the impact is that if we don't raise prices, we won't make a profit.
But if we do, customers won't come, so we can't raise them.
I don't think economic climate will get any better in the future, especially now with the week in Yan.
We've become so dependent on tourists, so I'm really worried about what will happen when the number of tourists decreases and we're left with only Japanese people.
Every day I'm thinking, what will tomorrow be like?
Will there be a lot of tourists?
Will there be a few?
I worry every day.
Clearly, as we heard there, it's been a challenging time for businesses.
So whoever forms the next government in Japan and we'll find out who that is pretty soon they're going to have plenty of economic challenges facing them.
Rahul Tandon, ahead of Japan's elections this weekend.
Now it's game time as well.
This weekend, the Super Bowl is almost upon us.
While fans of the Seahawks and the Patriots are going to be tuned in for every touchdown on Sunday, there is, as ever, another story, almost as big, off the field.
The ads.
Pringle Leo.
Will Shad here, bringing fibre to the masses with Kellogg's Raisin.
Let's go, Scarlett.
Loved by everyone, even the saltiest.
Some classic Super Bowl commercials there.
And this year already they are generating headlines with star-studded spots cutting-edge, creative and eye-popping budgets.
Advertisers are hoping to stand out in front of more than 100 million global viewers.
Maria Rodas is Professor of Business Administration at the University of Illinois.
She's an expert in consumer behaviour and brand management.
For 30 seconds, people are paying $8 million, sometimes $10 million.
And this is without factoring in what they pay for production and having all of these celebrities, because this is a big trend.
So we're talking north of $20 million.
And so the question that you ask is why?
And what I would say is that the Super Bowl has become the last campfire, because right now, when we're looking at the world, but even more specifically media, everything is so, so fragmented.
So when I go to Instagram or TikTok, what I see is completely different than what you see.
We're being served our own little slice of reality.
But the Super Bowl is one of the only remaining moments where over 100
100 million people voluntarily choose to share the same reality at the same time.
So it is this scarcity of share attention that has become the most valuable commodity in marketing.
So which companies are competing this year?
Oh my God, all of them.
You know, the interesting thing also with the Super Bowl is that's a mirror of how the economy is doing and where the money and the action is.
So the biggest players this year, there's two big themes.
AI, I'm sure to no one's surprise.
And so meta, anthropic, we also have smaller players.
And so that is like one big trend.
And the other one is wellness and more specifically GLP-1.
And so Novo Nordisk, also there is some other smaller new entrants like Roe.
So they're selling drugs on the Super Bowl slots.
Yes, they are.
They are selling drugs and also with celebrities.
So Serena Williams is going to be staring the Roe commercial.
And so those are the biggest two trends.
And that's how you see what's hot in the market and in the economy hangover cures perhaps would be appropriate.
It's funny I was seeing one piece of research suggesting that a significant proportion of those watching are actually looking forward to the ads more than they are the game itself.
Yes.
And that is the other very strange thing about this phenomenon.
And I'm going to include myself there.
So I never watch a football game.
The only exception for me is the Super Bowl.
And you might be saying, well, yeah, you know, you're a professor that studies brands.
So I get that.
But there is a significant number of people that are like me.
And so this is very rare.
Many of us sometimes pay to not watch commercials or we skip and fast forward.
But here, advertisement is the content.
It's not a nuisance.
And so even in my household we're going to have a viewing party, And traditionally during a game, I think most people get up to the bathroom or grab a drink or a snack during the commercials and people start talking.
Here, when people are watching the Super Bowl, you're also people go, shh, this ad is coming up.
I want to see what this is.
So this is completely unheard of in any other setting.
Do you think the companies make their money?
Presumably they must be gambling on getting that back in sales.
I would say absolutely.
And one of the big things is that they need to ensure that they get the return on investment they need to amplify.
And so another big trend that we're seeing is that a lot of them are leaking or just releasing the advertisements seven to three days before the Super Bowl.
And they also sometimes try to make them a little bit controversial or with some conversation value.
So afterwards, people talk about them.
So they're trying to tap into a cultural conversation so that people continue that conversation after those 30 seconds.
Maria Rodas, that's your World Business Report.
