TikTok is being fined $10 million USD (roughly $14.3 million CAD) by Venezuela’s highest court. This week, the courts determined that the ByteDance-owned video-sharing company failed to implement policies to protect users and discourage potentially harmful challenges.

Supreme Tribunal of Justice Judge Tania D’Amelio states that TikTok has failed to “implement “necessary and adequate measures” to stop the spread of harmful online challenges. Earlier this year, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro lobbied against TikTok when a 12-year-old girl tragically died when participating in an online challenge that involved tranquillizer pills. Subsequently, a 14-year-old also passed when participating in a TikTok challenge that encouraged inhaling chemical substances. A third child also passed in November, once again from a TikTok challenge “trend”.

TikTok is now ordered to open an office in Venezuela as a result of the court dispute. The company has also been given an eight-day deadline to pay the $10 million fine. If TikTok fails to do so, it’ll face “appropriate” measures. The money collected from the fine is said to be going towards a “TikTok victims fund, intended to compensate for the psychological, emotional and physical damages to users, especially if these users are children and adolescents,” says D’Amelio.

A lot of TikTok’s virality stems from the creation and sharing of challenges on the platform. Users regularly see a trend pop up on the app and replicate it, adding more fuel to the fire of the challenge. In most cases, these challenges are innocent. Some are dance-based or boil down to jokes. According to Venezuelan authorities, 200 adolescents were found to be intoxicated in schools across the country as part of these challenges.

President Nicolas Maduro, in the past, has threatened to implement “severe measures” against the company. Maduro says he’ll move swiftly if TikTok fails to remove content regarding “criminal challenges.”

Source: AP News