The EU charged TikTok on Thursday of breaking modern laws after finding that the Chinese-owned social media platform is never sufficiently clear about advertising. The European Commission “found that TikTok does not provide the required information about the information of the ads, the people targeted by the advertising, and who paid for the ads,” the company said in a statement. For the first time in history, Brussels has officially charged TikTok with breaking the landmark EU online content law known as the Digital Services Act ( DSA ). According to the EU’s modern key, Henna Virkkunen,” In our initial see, TikTok is not complying with the DSA in important areas of its advertisement repository, preventing the entire inspection of the risks brought about by its advertising and targeting systems.” The largest online companies in the world must establish an advertising library that contains information about the advertisements that run on their platforms in accordance with the DSA. The EU hopes that any advertising libraries will then be readily available to academics and civil society to find fraudulent advertisements and cross risk activities. The European Union‘s powerful arsenal, which was established last year, includes the DSA, which gives the EU the authority to fine businesses for up to 6 % of their global annual revenues. Due to concerns that TikTok may not be doing enough to address the negative effects experienced by young people, the same investigation that was launched in February 2024 is still being looked into. The so-called “rabbit hole” effect, which occurs when users are fed related content based on an algorithm, in some cases leading to more dangerous content, is a major concern. TikTok is now able to review the commission’s documents and submit a written response.
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Last year, the EU launched inquiries into allegations that Russia had influenced the outcome of Romania’s presidential election and its Lite spinoff app. In August, the company backed down and permanently removed a feature from the Lite app in France and Spain after regulators warned it might be very addictive. Belgium and France, two EU countries, have also recently expressed concern about the “SkinnyTok” trend promoted by TikTok that promotes extreme thinness. TikTok has stated that it does not permit the promotion or display of risky behaviors related to weight loss and eating habits. The DSA has stricter regulations for the biggest platforms, and it demands that tech companies do more to stop the spread of harmful and illegal content as well as disinformation. The EU last year accused X, which is owned by US tech billionaire Elon Musk, of violating the DSA due to its blue checkmarks for certified accounts. The EU is looking into the spread of illegal content and the effectiveness of the platform’s efforts to combat disinformation as part of a comprehensive investigation.
