EU investigation of TikTok goes for the jugular

The European Commission officially launched an investigation into TikTok today, announcing it suspected the company of breaching the Digital Services Act.

Specifically, it is examining whether TikTok failed in it obligation to "assess and mitigate systemic risks linked to election integrity", which falls under Articles 34 and 35, including (though possibly not exclusively) in the context of the recent Romanian presidential elections.

You will remember I posted a quick reading list on that election - which saw the Constitutional Court annul the result, at least in part on the basis of declassified intelligence suggestion Russia used TikTok to manipulate the vote.

Going for the jugular: the recommender algorithm set for scrutiny

In a piece in the Irish Times today - published just hours before the Commission announced its investigation - I noted that the the regulator was widely expected to launch such a probe, as it had issued a data retention order against TikTok on Dec 5th.

I also noted that that order suggested the Commission might be out for blood - that it would go after the coveted and highly secretive TikTok algorithm. I wrote that:

"the Commission’s request didn’t stop at election content and adverts, or even about how it protects elections, it also asked the company to “preserve internal documents and information regarding the design and functioning of its recommender systems”. In including requests for data related to TikTok’s tightly guarded algorithm, the commission may be opening a door to a regulator finally getting under the hood of what makes the social media app so addictive."

It looks like that was prescient - the Commission confirmed today that they are looking at both the recommender system as well as the infrastructure around political ads on TikTok, something our investigation back in June found had failed.

A screenshot of the European Commission press release announcing the investigation; source

The Irish angle: where is our Commissioner?

Three things are notable in the announcement from an Irish point of view.

An obvious one is the mention of Coimisiún na Meán as being "associated to" the investigation, and that it will be asked to "contribute with its expertise and analysis", given that "Ireland is TikTok's country of establishment in the EU" (the Irish Times ran with that angle).

But it is also notable that Ireland's new EU Commissioner is nowhere to be seen on the press release, despite his top two responsibilities being listed as:

-- putting in place a new European Democracy Shield, including the fight against disinformation, foreign information manipulation and interference

-- working to preserve the fairness and integrity of elections, and protect the safety of political candidates

Instead quotes are included from Von Der Leyen, and Finland's Henna Virkkunen, "Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy".

And finally, we may find that TikTok's role in the EP elections in Ireland end up playing into this investigation. The limited information we have on the case says that they are considering not just the Romanian intelligence, but also "third party reports".

Following that investigation I mentioned into TikTok's failure to share public information on political ads purchased on the platform, we at TheBriefing submitted a complaint to Coimisiún na Meán under DSA Article 34 and 35.

I recently received an update on that complaint that the Irish regulator was not happy with TikTok's response, that the complaint was found to be "not unfounded", and had been sent on to the Commission.

A dramatic end to an eventful 2024 for TikTok, with no sign that 2025 will be any quieter.

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