Brussels estimated on Thursday, May 15, preliminary, that Tiktok did not fulfill its transparency obligations in terms of online advertising, racing the way for a large fine in case of non -compliance.
The European Commission said that the social network, the property of the Chinese group, “does not provide the necessary information on the content of the advertisements, users attacked by them, nor the identity of those who finance advertising campaigns,” according to a statement.
A fine of up to 6% of global billing
In fact, in February 2024, the institution opened a formal survey aimed at Tiktok to determine if the application had violated the Digital Service Law (DSA) the European regulation that forces social networks to be more transparent in its operation.
The concerns of the European digital gendarme focused in particular on “the protection of minors”, “the transparency of advertising”, “access to data for researchers”, as well as the “risks linked to the addictive design” of the platform and “harmful content”.
According to the first preliminary conclusions of the European Commission, Tiktok, therefore, would not have fulfilled one of DSA’s obligations by not providing an advertising repertoire “allowing researchers and civil society to detect fraudulent ads and hybrid threat campaigns.”
Tiktok, meanwhile, has the possibility of defending the documents and providing a written response.
If the preliminary conclusions of the Commission are confirmed, the company could inflict a fine of up to 6 % of its annual world turnover. And, in case of recurrence, the application could simply be prohibited.
The platform has already been sanctioned by Brussels in the past. At the beginning of the month, Tiktok was sentenced to a fine of 530 million euros for not guaranteeing sufficient protection of European personal data in China, from where they are accessible.
In parallel, the European Commission also opened an investigation last December against Tiktok, suspected of infractions of its obligations after roller manipulation suspicions in The canceled presidential elections In Romania.
Source: BFM TV
