The European Union industry commissioner Thierry Breton has urged TikTok to do more to remove content that violates EU laws and harms public safety, especially for children and teenagers.

He sent a letter to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Thursday, giving him 24 hours to comply with the Digital Services Act, which sets new standards for online platforms and search engines.

Breton’s letter, which he also shared on social media platform Bluesky, came after he sent similar warnings to X, formerly Twitter owner Elon Musk, and Meta Platforms’ Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week. 

He said he had evidence that TikTok was used to spread disinformation and illegal content in the EU following the Hamas attack on Israel.

““Given that your platform is extensively used by children and teenagers, you have a particular obligation to protect them from violent content depicting hostage taking and other graphic videos which are reportedly widely circulating on your platform without appropriate safeguards,” he wrote.

He reminded TikTok of the rules on content moderation in the DSA, which came into force in November last year. 

The DSA requires very large online platforms and search engines to take more action against illegal content and public security threats and prevent their services from being manipulated.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said on Thursday that X had deleted hundreds of accounts linked to Hamas and taken action to remove or label tens of thousands of pieces of content since the attack on Israel.

Companies that violate the DSA could face fines of up to 6% of their global turnover.