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Venezuela Issues $10 Million Fine For TikTok Over Deadly Viral Challenges (apnews.com)

(Tuesday December 31, 2024 @10:30PM (BeauHD) from the cease-and-desist dept.)


Venezuela's Supreme Court on Monday [1]fined TikTok $10 million for failing to prevent viral challenges allegedly linked to the deaths of three children. It also ordered the platform to establish a local office to oversee content compliance with national laws. The Associated Press reports:

> Judge Tania D'Amelio said TikTok had acted in a negligent manner and gave it eight days to pay the fine [...]. The judge did not explain how Venezuela would force TikTok, whose parent company is based in China, to pay the fine. Venezuela has blocked dozens of websites in previous years for not complying with regulations set by its telecommunications commission.

>

> In November, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blamed TikTok for the death of a 12-year-old girl who allegedly died after participating in a TikTok challenge that involved taking tranquilizer pills and not falling asleep. Venezuela's Education Minister Hector Rodriguez also said last month that a 14-year-old died after taking part in a TikTok challenge that involved sniffing substances. And on Nov. 21, Venezuela's attorney general blamed video challenges on TikTok for the death of a third child.



[1] https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-tiktok-viral-video-childrens-deaths-c2e9a4d6f7387c72d0c53b881c54786d



Alternative headline (Score:2)

by fjo3 ( 1399739 )

Venezuela begs for 10 million dollars

Re: (Score:1)

by Beyond_GoodandEvil ( 769135 )

Perhaps TikTok could send Venezuela a TikTok branded hammer to pound sand.

Re: (Score:2)

by fjo3 ( 1399739 )

> Are we for banning tiktok or are we against it now? Trump has changed his mind and President elect Elon still hasn't weighed in. JD Vance hasn't been seen since the election. Rumor has it he's tied up in Elon's basement.

I'm for the ban. It's arguably a violation of the first amendment, but I see Tiktok as a weapon of war. The algorithm is deliberately slated to make children hate the West, in multiple ways. It's also having a terrible effect on attention span in children. I have seen this in my daughter, and her friends too. You don't have to like Trump to know that, accidentally, sometimes he will stumble upon a good policy, like a blind hog in a forest looking for acorns.

Re: Alternative headline (Score:2)

by zawarski ( 1381571 )

Back in my day, we didnâ(TM)t need the government to protect our children against short attention spans, or even stupider, we did a little thing called parenting.

It's ten o'clock. Do you know where your source code is?