TikTok Charged with Breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) Over Lack of Transparency in Ads
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A European Commission (EC) investigation looking into TikTok's advertisement regulations has said that the social media platform was in violation of the bloc's digital laws that require transparency over who pays for advertising.
The revelation was part of the commission's initial finding, following the launch of its investigation on the advertising practices of the Chinese-owned short video platform in February 2024.
Examples of this include content creators raving about certain products without clarifying in the video or in the description that it is a sponsorship, as part of creator guidelines and digital laws adhered to by other content-sharing platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.
The EC warned that this lack of oversight hampers efforts to detect scam ads, misinformation, and coordinated influence campaigns, especially around elections.
They said it had sent its preliminary findings to TikTok, which could impose a fine of up to 6% of TikTok's global annual turnover for not complying with the DSA in publishing an advertisement repository.
TikTok's current repository lacks details on the content of ads, targeted users, and those who financed the advertisements, EU stated.
EC's investigation into TikTok's advertising practices followed a thorough review of internal documents, tool testing, and expert interviews.
The Commission stated that TikTok now has the chance to review the investigation file and respond to the findings.
According to Reuters where a TikTok spokesperson has responded, 'While we support the goals of the regulation and continue to improve our ad transparency tools, we disagree with some of the Commission's interpretations and note that guidance is being delivered via preliminary findings rather than clear, public guidelines.'
If confirmed, TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, could face a fine of up to 6% of its global turnover, along with increased supervision and possible penalty payments.
In addition to advertising transparency, the investigation also looks into TikTok's algorithm, its potential to cause addiction, and its impact on privacy, safety for minors, and age verification. Researchers' access to data is also under scrutiny.
Earlier in May 2025, TikTok was fined €530 million by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules related to the transfer of user data to China.
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