London CNN —Italy’s competition authority has fined TikTok €10 million ($11 million) for failing to control the spread of content that it said threatened the safety of minors and other vulnerable people. The antitrust agency, AGCM, said Thursday that TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, had failed to take into account the specific vulnerabilities of adolescents using its platform, such as a tendency toward copying group behaviors. The trend involved TikTok users pinching their own cheeks to leave a lasting bruise, Reuters reported last month. A TikTok spokesperson told CNN that it disagreed with the AGCM’s decision. “We long ago restricted visibility of this content to (under-18s).”This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Persons: London CNN —, TikTok, China’s ByteDance, Angelica Chiara Yazbeck Organizations: London CNN, Reuters, CNN