BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The European Commission announced Friday that it has secured TikTok's commitment to provide advertising repositories that ensure full transparency around ads on its services, as required by the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The agency launched the probe in February 2024 after it found the China-based ByteDance's video platform's algorithmic system may stimulate behavioral addictions and/or so called 'rabbit hole effects'. Also, it was concerned about Tiktok's age verification policies which might 'not be reasonable, proportionate and effective' according to the DSA standards.
After extensive interactions with the commission, TikTok has submitted binding commitments that address all the concerns raised in its investigation and preliminary findings of non-compliance published by the Commission in May 2025.
These commitments, which ensure full transparency, include TikTok providing the full content of the advertisement as it appears in users' feeds, including the URLs in the link provided in the ad. It will also update its repository more quickly, ensuring information is available within a maximum of 24 hours.
Further, TikTok has committed to provide the targeting criteria selected by advertisers, along with aggregated user data, including gender, age group and Member State where the users who were reached are located, enabling researchers to investigate how ads are targeted and delivered.
TikTok will also introduce additional search options and filters, allowing users to find advertisements more easily.
The DSA requires platforms to maintain an accessible and searchable repository of the ads running on their services. These repositories are critical for regulators, researchers, and civil society to detect scams, advertisements for illegal or age-inappropriate products, fake advertisements, and coordinated information operations, including in the context of elections.
TikTok has agreed to implement the commitments as soon as possible, and by the latest within deadlines agreed with the Commission of a maximum 12 months depending on the specific commitment.
The Commission noted that it will carefully monitor TikTok's compliance with the binding commitments the platform has offered under article 71 of the DSA, as well as with its other obligations under the DSA.
The Commission has also opened formal proceedings against TikTok in December 2024 on its management of risks related to elections and civic discourse, for which the investigation continues.
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