European Union laws restrict adverts on TikTok targeting children
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The European Union has recently implemented stringent laws to prevent social media platforms from targeting children with personalized advertisements. However, a study focusing on TikTok has uncovered a significant loophole, revealing that teenagers are still being exposed to highly targeted commercial content disguised as regular posts.
The EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) explicitly prohibits the profiling of minors for advertising purposes. Nevertheless, the legislation’s definition of “advertisements” is limited to formal ads directly purchased through a platform’s advertising system, overlooking influencer marketing and undisclosed promotional videos.
Researchers at the Kempelen Institute of Intelligent Technologies in Slovakia, led by Sára Soľárová, conducted a study using simulated accounts on TikTok to analyze the impact of these loopholes. The automated accounts, posing as 16- to 17-year-old teenagers and 20- to 21-year-old adults, were programmed to browse TikTok’s algorithmic feed for an hour daily over a 10-day period, with specific interests assigned to each bot, such as beauty, fitness, or gaming.
Soľárová emphasized the importance of behavioral studies in understanding social media, stating, “The only way for us as a society to understand social media is to study it behaviorally, and this is the way we do it.”
During the research, the automated accounts viewed a total of 7095 videos, with 19% of them containing some form of advertisement. Surprisingly, around 56% of these advertising videos were undisclosed ads, where creators and brands promoted products without using the platform’s required disclosure labels.
While formal ads directly purchased by the platform for the minor accounts were limited or non-existent, the majority of commercial content encountered by the simulated teenagers fell under the undisclosed category. These hidden ads were highly tailored to the teens’ inferred interests, with a significant focus on beauty products for those showing an interest in beauty-related content.
The study revealed that the undisclosed profiling of minors on TikTok was significantly more intense compared to the level of targeting allowed for formal adult advertising. This raises concerns as the undisclosed ads made up the majority of advertisements seen by minors on the platform.
According to the researchers, TikTok technically complies with the law by not profiling formal ads to minors. However, the prevalence of undisclosed ads that are heavily personalized to users’ interests poses a new challenge in targeted advertising.
Catalina Goanta from Utrecht University highlighted the need for a broader understanding of influencer marketing and stricter regulations to address undisclosed ads, which she believes can harm consumers. Soľárová echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the necessity to expand the definition of advertising to encompass these covert promotional tactics.
As platforms continue to evolve their advertising strategies, it is crucial for regulators and stakeholders to adapt and enforce policies that protect vulnerable users, especially minors, from deceptive marketing practices.
