The decision could almost have gone unnoticed, behind the historic announcement of the fine imposed on X, on Friday 5 December, at the same time as the penalty was imposed on Elon Musk’s social network, the European Commission said it “accepted” TikTok’ s recent commitments on the transparency of its advertising.
The difference is striking, as summed up by a senior European official: “Our primary goal with the DSA is not to impose fines at all costs but to see platforms comply. If you cooperate with us, we’ll come to an agreement. If you refuse, we will take action”.
TikTok falls into the first category. Following the preliminary conclusions communicated by the Commission last May (see EUROPE 13641/12), the platform has implemented changes to its ad management service in order to achieve full transparency of its repository.
According to the Commission, TikTok has undertaken to provide the full content of the advertising as it appears in users’ feeds, to update its ad repository within a maximum of 24 hours and to make available the targeting criteria selected by advertisers and aggregated user data. The platform will also have to introduce new search filters to enable users to find certain ads more easily.
According to the institution, these changes should enable researchers and experts to better study the way in which advertisements are targeted and delivered. This transparency is also expected to have an impact on the dissemination of illegal or misleading content, or targeted political campaigns. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)