Research shows that TikTok does not pass the ‘disinformation test’ before the EU vote

Social network TikTok approved political disinformation ads ahead of the European polls, a report showed on Tuesday, ignoring its own guidelines and raising questions about its ability to detect election lies.

International campaign group Global Witness created 16 ads targeting the Irish public with false information about this week’s EU elections and tried to get them approved by three platforms: TikTok, Google-owned YouTube, and Elon Musk’s X.

TikTok, which is particularly popular with young voters, approved all 16 ads for publication, YouTube caught 14 while X filtered all ads and suspended the group’s fake accounts, Global Witness said in its report.