Bans on TikTok have become increasingly common worldwide and in Europe, citing concerns over security, misinformation, and violence. While these bans are a tempting quick fix for politicians, they fail to address the root causes of these issues as users simply bypass restrictions or migrate to other platforms. A more effective solution is effective, properly thought-out tech regulation that adapts to the evolving challenges of online platforms—something that has been sorely lacking in the EU in recent years.
Today’s panic over TikTok could turn into an entirely different fast-moving technological phenomenon tomorrow, given the rapid emergence of new apps and AI technologies. These developments occur at an incredibly fast pace, making it essential for regulation to do its job properly, not impose blanket rules that dissuade investment and growth without achieving any worthwhile results. It’s a battle between policy and technology. Bans are not helping regulators better align themselves with the technology of the real world. On the contrary, they are causing a delay in future policy responses.
Misinformation has dominated much of Europe’s antitrust conversation in recent years, especially in relation to elections. In Romania, the EU is investigating potential “Russian meddling” in the country’s recent presidential elections via TikTok. Similarly, in Albania, the government’s proposed ban on TikTok ahead of upcoming elections has sparked concerns over freedom of speech.
A US TikTok ban is on hold, presumably so the White House can try to move things around behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Meta recently decided to phase out traditional fact-checking in favor of community-based moderation with its Community Notes system, a move that has raised concerns about potential misinformation and the spread of fake news. Reasonable people can disagree about the merits of different kinds of content moderation, but excessive regulation such as bans is not the answer.
The inspiration for incorporating the concept of community notes comes from X. Its efficacy is doubtful. If more social media platforms follow suit, it could cause new problems. A recent European Commission study found X has the highest proportion of disinformation among the six major social networks.
European antitrust regulations are widely derided around the world for their ineffectiveness. They hamstring the normal operations of technology companies and dish out absurd fines without achieving any notable impact on any key issue, such as misinformation. Branching out into bans will only make things worse. It is a short-term stopgap to make regulators feel better. A more sustainable approach would involve a comprehensive second look at existing regulations like the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act. With careful planning, the EU can ensure safe content without infringing on free speech, but the status quo is a long way off from that goal.
Partial bans, such as those on TikTok in certain parliaments, are not the answer, especially as new apps like DeepSeek continue to emerge, raising comparable security concerns. It would be far more effective to establish genuinely high-quality regulation once and for all, which can set a reliable, unchanging baseline that lays out clear but non-destructive standards for technology companies to obey in Europe, rather than firing off random bans.
Banning one app makes regulating more difficult. Besides, it simply won’t work. Tech-savvy users will always find ways to bypass restrictions and access banned platforms through workarounds, such as VPNs.
This interventionist approach manages to cause myriad problems for companies and users while almost invariably failing to solve the issue at hand. For example, in the case of TikTok, when it looked like the US ban would go ahead, US users migrated en masse to RedNote, another similar China-based app, raising the same concerns.
In the future, this pattern of poor regulation and cyclical bans ultimately risks condemning Europe to a future free of investment or innovation from the technology industry.
