Political advertisements for participating candidates in the imminent local elections, found on the social media platform TikTok, contravene both the policies of the platform and the European Union’s voluntary code of conduct regarding political advertisements. Despite showing promotional content for candidates participating in the elections taking place in the upcoming week, TikTok, boasting a user count exceeding two million in Ireland, violates its own rules by prohibiting political advertising and fails to comply with EU regulations.
The EU dictates that every social media platform which permits political advertisements should keep a log exhibiting the expenditure incurred and the financial sources behind these ads, a practice not observed by TikTok. The multinational giant has agreed to a code of conduct on a voluntary basis implying its commitment to align with the laws set to be enacted next year.
The revelation of this breach of TikTok’s policies and EU’s directives was made by Liz Carolan, a champion of transparency, who runs The Briefing, a newsletter focusing on the interplay of politics and technology.
TikTok asserts that it has implemented a stringent ban on political advertisements, which also extends to creators remunerated to generate political content of a branded sort. Nevertheless, various investigations via its ad library reveal the presence of numerous promotions for candidates in the local elections.
Considering TikTok’s assertion that it does not host political advertisements, it also doesn’t maintain a registry of such ads, as required by the EU code. The Briefing further discovered that TikTok refrains from disclosing any information concerning the political advertisements it removes, making it impossible to track the financiers behind an ad or its audience before removal.
Underlining the importance of this issue, Carolan stated that transparency is vital for democracy, especially when it comes to financial influences on the elections, which form the core of political advertisements.
Despite issuing statements that TikTok does not sanction paid political advertising, and such that content has been removed, the ads continued to be visible on the platform.