Unveiling TikTok's Advertising Gaffe: EU Commission Slams Opaque Practices
TikTok Violates EU Advertising Regulations, as Perceeding Commission Report
Get ready for a digital showdown! The European Commission has accused TikTok, the beloved Chinese social media sensation, of flouting EU advertising transparency rules. The reason? Opaque advertising on the platform poses a significant threat and could potentially lead to a hefty fine.
According to the preliminary assessment by the EU Commission, TikTok falls short of offering the required details about the content of advertisements and thus faces a penalty. The Brussels authority argues that, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), publishers should maintain a clear advertising archive to help curb fraudulent advertising, hybrid threats, and coordinate information operations.
However, TikTok refrains from publishing an ad registry, the commission points out. The platform's ad archive is also ambiguous and lacks comprehensive search capabilities, which hampers its effectiveness.
The social media titan, whose parent company Bytedance hails from China, has been officially warned about the preliminary findings and could face a financial penalty of up to six percent of its global annual revenue. The preliminary investigation included the scrutiny of company documents, testing of TikTok tools, and discussions with industry experts.
This isn't the first time the EU has ventured into legal proceedings against companies for DSA violations. Platform X, owned by US billionaire Elon Musk, is already embroiled in several cases on the EU level due to suspected violations. The DSA also aims to crack down on hate speech. Investigations into Brussels' obtenance against the Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta are underway as well.
Hold onto your hats, folks! This could be a bumpy ride for TikTok, as the EU Commission digs deeper into the platform's advertising practices. Stay tuned for updates!
- TikTok
- EU Commission
- Social Media
- China
- EU
- X (formerly Twitter)
- Elon Musk
- Brussels
Enrichment Insights:- TikTok's advertising opacity involves failing to provide information about the content of ads, users targeted, and the advertisers financing them – countering the DSA's requirement for major digital platforms to maintain a public, comprehensive ad database for monitoring scam ads and hybrid campaigns.- The platform's advertisement archive lacks the ability to support comprehensive searches, limiting its usefulness and hindering full assessment of risks related to its advertising and targeting systems.- These breaches suggest TikTok's non-compliance with the DSA’s key obligations concerning advertising transparency, which aims to protect the public interest by detecting misleading or harmful ads and holding advertisers accountable on digital platforms [1][2][4][5].- If confirmed, the Commission may fine TikTok up to 6% of its total global annual revenue for these violations [1][5].
The EU Commission is proposing to extend the deadline for TikTok, a social media platform from China, to comply with its advertising transparency requirements before imposing fines. This extends to the broader industry and financial sector, as businesses and technology giants alike are now held accountable for adhering to strict transparency rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Even major players like Elon Musk's platform X, Facebook, and Meta are under investigation for similar violations, indicating that the EU Commission is committed to tackling opaque practices across the digital landscape.
