Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The EU has moved closer to fining TikTok, after it provisionally concluded that the social media platform has breached its rules for failing to provide an ad library that allows proper scrutiny of online advertising.
The announcement on Thursday comes more than a year after the European Commission launched an in-depth investigation into the group. If the provisional conclusions are confirmed, the Chinese-owned social media platform could be fined up to 6 per cent of its global turnover.
The EU’s Digital Services Act, which came into force last year, requires large online platforms to maintain a publicly searchable ad library to help detect scams, disinformation campaigns and co-ordinated manipulation — especially ahead of elections.
“Transparency in online advertising — who pays and how audiences are targeted — is essential to safeguarding the public interest,” said the commission’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen.
The ad transparency investigation is one of several ongoing European cases against TikTok, whose parent company ByteDance is based in Beijing. One of the probes into TikTok is looking into potential interference in Romania’s 2024 elections.
Earlier this month, TikTok was handed a €530mn fine by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for sending users’ data to China, in a ruling the social media group said would have negative ramifications for “any company in Europe with global operations”.
Source link
