TikTok, China's short video sharing app, was hit by a series of xo complaints from EU consumer groups on Tuesday for allegedly violating the group's consumer law and failing to protect children from hidden advertising. And inappropriate content TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, is rapidly increasing in popularity around the world, especially among teenagers. More criticism has been faced over the privacy and security policy following the incident.

The European consumer group BEUC cited a number of issues in its complaint as a Terms of Service.They're ambiguous, vague, and value TikTok the disservice of its users. The copyright terms are equally unfair as they grant TikTok irrevocable rights to use, distribute and reproduce videos published by users for free, ”it said.It said the company's virtual list policy where users can buy coins to use as virtual gifts for their favorite TikTok celebrities contained unfair conditions and misleading practices.

TikTok has failed to protect children and adolescents from hidden ads and potentially dangerous content on its platform," BEUC said.The Company's practices for processing users' personal information are misleading.In addition to the BEUC complaint, consumer organizations in 15 countries have alerted their agencies and urged them to take action.We are always happy to hear how we can improve and we have reached out to BEUC as we welcome a meeting to hear their concerns," said a TikTok spokesperson.The company said it has developed a privacy policy summary in the app to make it easier for teens to understand their stance on privacy.