European Union regulators have charged the social media platform TikTok with violating EU digital security rules, the Associated Press reports. According to the results of the preliminary investigation, TikTok’s advertising database does not comply with the requirements of the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The European Commission says TikTok does not provide sufficient information about ads' content, target audiences, and advertisers. In addition, the platform’s advertising database does not allow for full searches based on this data, significantly limiting its functionality. This prevents researchers from identifying fake or manipulative ads and hybrid threat campaigns, especially during elections.
TikTok, in turn, announced that it is studying the commission’s clarifications and continues to adhere to the DSA's requirements. The company emphasized that the criticism was presented as a preliminary assessment without clear and public guidelines.
TikTok is now being allowed to respond to the EU Commission's assessments before a final decision is made, which could result in a fine of up to 6% of the company's annual global revenue.
