Brussels, May 15, (dpa/GNA) – The European Commission on Thursday accused social media giant TikTok of breaching European Union law by failing to provide sufficient information about advertisements.
A preliminary investigation has concluded that TikTok, contrary to EU rules, does not publish an advertisement repository, the commission said.
Such a tool is needed to “detect scam advertisements, hybrid threat campaigns, as well as coordinated information operations and fake advertisements, including in the context of elections.”
“TikTok does not provide the necessary information about the content of the advertisements, the users targeted by the ads, and who paid for the advertisements,” a press release said.
The social media company has been informed of the preliminary findings and risks a fine of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover, the commission said.
“Transparency in online advertising â who pays and how audiences are targeted â is essential to safeguarding the public interest,” said EU Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen.
“Whether we are defending the integrity of our democratic elections, protecting public health, or protecting consumers from scam ads, citizens have a right to know who is behind the messages they see,” she added.
TikTok said it was reviewing the commission’s preliminary finding.
“While we support the goals of the regulation and continue to improve our ad transparency tools, we disagree with some of the Commissionâs interpretations,” a spokesman for TikTok said.
“We will continue engaging with the Commission as we have throughout this process,” he added.
Advertising on TikTok is under scrutiny in the EU after the pro-Russian candidate CÄlin Georgescu won the first round of presidential elections in Romania in November, campaigning mainly on the platform.
However, shortly before the scheduled run-off vote, the Constitutional Court annulled the first round due to irregularities in campaign financing.
Georgescu was also banned from running for president again and has been under investigation by the public prosecutor’s office since February for making false statements about his campaign financing.
The far-right presidential candidate George Simion won the first round of the re-run elections in May.
Simion said his aim is to ensure “justice” for Georgescu if he wins the election. He has not ruled out helping Georgescu into the office of prime minister.
GNA
PDC