The European Union said on Thursday that TikTok may have broken the rules for online content. They think TikTok isn't open enough about the adverts that people see on the app.

The EU Commission said that TikTok's ad library doesn't meet the rules of the Digital Services Act (DSA), according to their early investigation.

The Commission said that ad information is very important for researchers. It helps them find fake ads and other harmful campaigns, like those with false information, especially during elections.

The DSA is a set of rules to make social media better and safer. It helps protect people from problems like fake news that affects elections. Social media companies must show who pays for ads and why people see them.

The group said TikTok isn't giving enough details about what the ads show, who sees them, and who pays for them. They said you can't properly search the ad information because of this, which makes it less helpful.

TikTok said they are checking what the Commission found. They still want to do everything the DSA says they should.

The company said they agree with the aim of the rules and are making their ads more open. But they don't agree with how the Commission understands some things. They also said the advice is coming from early ideas, not clear rules everyone can see.

Henna Virkkunen said that the problems with the ad database make it difficult to completely check the risks of its ad targeting. She is in charge of technology, security, and democracy for the commission.

Virkkunen said that it's important to be clear about online adverts – who pays for them and who they are trying to reach. This is important to protect people. She added that people need to know who is sending the messages they see, whether it's to protect elections, health, or from fake adverts.

TikTok can now respond before the Commission makes its final decision. This decision could mean TikTok has to pay a fine of up to 6% of its yearly income from all over the world.

TikTok is being looked at by the EU to see if it did enough to handle problems during Romania's presidential election. There were issues with the election last year because people said there were voting problems and that Russia was involved.