In brief

• A Spanish fact-checking group documented 1,183 explicit child abuse videos on TikTok, viewed 48 million times.
• The group found more than 26,000 profiles of potential abusers who comment on and share such material.
• Spain's government has asked prosecutors to investigate and is considering suspending TikTok in the country.
• TikTok has removed only a small share of the flagged content and has not publicly responded to the allegations.

Investigation findings

The Spanish fact-checking organisation Maldita.es says it documented 1,183 videos showing explicit child sexual abuse on TikTok, which together had 48 million views (Španělská vláda žádá vyšetření údajných případů sexuálního zneužívání dětí na TikToku – ČT24) (Na TikToku sa nachádza materiál, ktorý by ste očakávali len na dark webe, tvrdí španielska organizácia – HNonline.sk) (Una investigación española descubre miles de nuevos vídeos y perfiles pedófilos en TikTok – EL PAÍS). The group also identified more than 26,000 profiles of potential abusers who comment on and share such material. Maldita.es reported that most accounts posting the videos remained active.

Platform response

TikTok has removed some of the flagged content, according to the investigation. Maldita.es claims the platform took down only about a tenth of the material it pointed out and blocked just 26 percent of illegal posts in Spain. TikTok has not publicly answered the allegations (В Іспанії хочуть заборонити TikTok через відео із сексуальним насильством над дітьми – Українська правда).

Government and legal action

Spain's minister for youth and children, Sira Rego, said her ministry had asked prosecutors to open an investigation into the platform. The government is also considering suspending TikTok's services in Spain and has requested an urgent meeting with the company. Maldita.es has filed its own complaint with the prosecutor's office, using screenshots and videos as evidence.

Wider scrutiny

TikTok, owned by ByteDance, already faces several lawsuits and an investigation over alleged failures to protect minors, which the company denies. The European Union has also urged the platform to change the design of its personalised feed, warning of heavy fines if it does not.

Key figures

• Videos of child sexual abuse found: 1,183
• Views on those videos: 48 million
• Potential abuser profiles identified: more than 26,000
• Share of flagged content removed: about 10 percent
• Share of illegal posts blocked in Spain: 26 percent