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The short-form video platform TikTok has been cautioned over its EU digital ads by the European Commission, after failing to provide sufficient details on their content.
TikTok has breached EU rules by not disclosing enough information about its advertising, the European Commission (EC) has said.
According to a statement, the EC believes that the platform ‘does not fulfil the Digital Services Act’s obligation to publish an advertisement repository.’ This is crucial for detecting scam adverts, fake information and hybrid threat campaigns, the EC says.
While not yet confirmed, the findings could cost TikTok up to 6% of its global revenue. The company made $23.6 billion USD in 2024 alone, with that number predicted to rise significantly over the next two years.
This means that any charge by the EC could cost serious money.
According to the EC, TikTok has failed to provide the necessary information about the contents of its ads. This includes which users are targeted specifically by certain types of content, as well as which organisations initially pay for the ads themselves.
The EC says its findings are based ‘on an in-depth investigation that included the analysis of internal documents, testing TikTok’s tools, and interviews with experts in the field.’ It has expressed that TikTok can examine the investigation itself and respond via written communication.
Interestingly, Elon Musk’s X was hit with similar legal warnings last year.
The EC formally charged the platform for failing to respect EU social media laws. Musk’s takeover of the site formally known as Twitter has been notorious for bots, right-wing politics and sexually explicit content.
The situation has gotten so bad that users began leaving en mass, with 2.7 million active US users closing their accounts over two months at the end of 2024.
As for TikTok, the investigation first began in February 2024, with not all the findings having been published just yet. The EC also examined the platform’s addictive design, its protections for children, and the types of data that researchers have access to.
Any long-time readers will know that TikTok never seems too far away from controversy. Owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, there have been ongoing, frequent concerns about its users safety, privacy and data.
