According to a preliminary assessment by the European Commission, the TIIKKOK online platform violates non-transparent advertising against EU digital rules.
Accordingly, the social network from China does not provide the necessary information about the content of advertisements on the platform and thus risk a high fine.
According to the Brussels authority, the Digital Services Act (DSA) stipulates defined obligations to publish an advertiser. This is of crucial importance for researchers and civil society to recognize fraudulent advertising, hybrid threat campaigns as well as coordinated information operations and fake advertising.
Commission criticized ad registers at Tiktok
According to the Commission, Tiktok does not publish any advertisement register. In addition, the advertisement archive of the platform does not allow the public to search, which means that the benefit of the tool is restricted.
Tikok sees it differently: “Although we support the goals of the regulation and further improve our instruments for advertising transparency, we do not agree with some interpretations of the Commission and find that the guidelines are more likely to be given in the form of preliminary findings than in the form of clear, public guidelines,” said a spokeswoman for the German Press Agency. One now wants to check the preliminary findings of the Commission for the advertising memory and continue the dialogue.
Punishment of up to six percent of the annual turnover
Commission Vice President Henna Virkkuns announced that transparency in online advertising – whoever pays and how the target groups would be addressed – was essential for the protection of public interest. “Whether we defend the integrity of our democratic elections, protect public health or protect consumers from fraudulent advertising, the citizens have a right to know who is behind the messages they see.”
The social media company – whose owner bytedance is based in China – has been informed about the preliminary results and risks a fine of up to six percent of the total global annual turnover, as the Commission announced.
The preliminary findings were based on an investigation, which includes the analysis of internal corporate documents, tests of the tictok tools and discussions with experts in this area.
Earlier allegations against Tiktok
Last year, the EU Commission started investigations against Tiktok in connection with the first round of the presidential elections in Romania. Brussels accused the platform of not having identified the content of the then pro -Russian and ultra -right candidate Calin Georgescu as political advertising. A Romanian court declared the election to be invalid due to suspected Russian election interference and irregularities in financing.
Investigations also against US platforms
Against platform X of the US billionaire Elon Musk, several procedures are already running at the EU level due to suspected violations of the DSA. The law is also intended to ensure that it is consistent against hate speech. Also against the Facebook and Instagram mother group Meta