The European Union's regulatory body accused TikTok on Thursday of breaking digital content rules because the video-sharing app wasn't clear enough about the ads it shows users.

The European Commission's initial investigation reveals that TikTok's ad library falls short of the standards required by the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The committee stated that an advertising database is crucial for researchers to identify fraudulent ads, so-called hybrid threat campaigns, coordinated information operations, and misleading advertisements, especially in the context of elections.

The Digital Services Act is a comprehensive law designed to regulate social media platforms and protect users from various risks, including election-related disinformation. Platforms are required to maintain transparency regarding digital advertising, which involves informing users about why they are seeing a particular advertisement and who paid for it.

The committee highlighted that TikTok had not supplied the required details regarding ad content, target audiences, and those paying for the advertisements. Furthermore, its advertising database did not allow for comprehensive searches based on this information, which undermined the tool's effectiveness.

TikTok has stated that they are reviewing the initial findings of the board's investigation and reaffirms its commitment to fulfilling the obligations set out in the DSA.

In their statement, the company conveyed their support for the regulation's aims and their commitment to improving advertising transparency tools. However, they expressed disagreement with some of the committee's interpretations, pointing out that the current guidance was based on preliminary findings rather than clear, public guidelines.

Henna Virkkunen, the Executive Vice-President in charge of technology sovereignty, security, and democracy, stated that the inadequacy of advertising databases makes it difficult to conduct a "thorough review" of the risks posed by their ad targeting system.

Virkkunen强调说：“在线广告的透明度，也就是了解广告的付费方和定向方式，对于公众利益至关重要。无论是为了维护民主选举的公正性、保护公众健康，还是为了避免消费者受到欺诈广告的侵害，人们都有权知道是谁在背后操纵他们所接收到的信息。”

TikTok now has the chance to respond before the committee makes its final decision, which could result in a fine of up to 6% of the company's global annual revenue.

Furthermore, TikTok is also facing a separate investigation by the EU. This investigation aims to determine whether the platform failed to adequately address risks stemming from alleged election irregularities and potential Russian interference during the Romanian presidential election last year.