(Brussels) The Chinese social network TikTok announced Friday to modify its operation, in particular by allowing the automatic display of content to be deactivated, in order to comply with the new rules of the European Union (EU) which will come into force at the end of August.

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), internet giants will have to abide by tougher rules on data privacy, child protection, disinformation and hate speech.

European Commissioner Thierry Breton had asked TikTok in mid-July to “accelerate” its work to comply with these new rules: “At the end of August, we will assess whether real and tangible changes have been made”, had- he warned.

TikTok, whose parent company is Chinese ByteDance, will now offer the ability to opt out of personalized content recommendations – i.e. the algorithmically determined automatic feed based on the user’s presumed interests, a feature often judged addictive.

Instead, users located in the EU will be able to freely choose to watch popular videos in their region or in other areas of the world, he said in a press release.

The other changes aim to make it easier for users to report illegal content and ban targeted advertising to young people aged 13 to 17.

TikTok also assures that it will be more transparent about its content moderation decisions, providing more details on why a video was removed.

“We will not only continue to meet our regulatory obligations, but we will also strive to set new standards through innovative solutions,” the group said.

TikTok, an app for sharing short and entertaining videos, has over a billion active users worldwide, including 125 million in the EU, and is particularly popular with young people thanks to its editing features and an AI-powered algorithm.

But it is suspected by the authorities in the United States and several European countries of not protecting the data enough and of allowing Beijing to spy on and manipulate its users, which the group has always vigorously denied.