TikTok's Election Ad Missteps Under Scrutiny

Global Witness found that TikTok approved four out of eight ads containing election disinformation, despite its ban on political ads. This revelation highlights inconsistencies in content moderation ahead of the U.S. presidential election. While TikTok faltered, Facebook and Google's YouTube demonstrated better ad moderation practices.

TikTok is facing criticism for approving ads with election disinformation, despite a self-imposed ban on political advertising. Global Witness, a nonprofit watchdog, conducted a test revealing that TikTok approved four out of eight false ads submitted.

This test aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of content moderation systems before the U.S. presidential election. While improvements have been made by platforms like Facebook, TikTok's approval of misleading content raises concerns about its commitment to its own policies.

Despite the ads not running on the platform, the incident underscores the varying success of social media companies in managing election misinformation. Google's YouTube required additional verification and didn't let any misleading ads go live, setting a better example.

(With inputs from agencies.)