The owner of Chinese short-form video app TikTok is facing a potential criminal investigation in France into its impact on children just days before the deadline for the sale of its U.S. business.
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Endangering Health
TikTok, owned by China’s private firm ByteDance, is in the sights of socialist politician Arthur Delaporte, who is also the head of a French parliamentary committee looking into its services.
Delaporte said today that the committee had found that TikTok had “deliberately endangered the health and lives of its users.” He told broadcaster franceinfo that a criminal investigation could involve “criminal offences, active complicity, and even perjury” after TikTok bosses denied knowledge of harmful effects during hearings.
The request for a criminal probe has been sent to the Paris public prosecutor, who will now decide whether to pursue the case. TikTok has previously said it takes children’s mental health issues seriously.
The committee was launched in March after a 2024 lawsuit filed by seven families who accused TikTok of exposing their children to content encouraging suicide. In its report, the panel recommended banning social media for children under 15 and introducing a nighttime curfew — from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. — for those aged 15 to 18.
This, of course, would also impact U.S. tech stocks such as Meta Platforms (META), which has legal and regulatory issues as a key risk for investors to consider – see above.
Sale Deadline
ByteDance also has its issues in the U.S. Congress last year passed a law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets or face a nationwide ban of the app, which has 170 million users in America. This was largely down to national security concerns because of its Chinese ownership.
President Trump has granted TikTok multiple reprieves, most recently extending the deadline for the company to divest its U.S. assets to September 17. That came after the White House opened an official TikTok account.
Names in the frame to potentially buy the U.S. arm include Oracle (ORCL).
ByteDance recently valued its overall business at $330 billion as a result of a 25% year-over-year revenue growth at the company, according to ByteDance. The company’s second-quarter revenue totaled $48 billion, with most of the sales coming from its home market of China.
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