TikTok Expands Resistance To False News And Hidden Influence Operations In Europe Ahead Of Parliamentary Elections

Kevin Morgan, head of trust & safety EMEA TikTok (photo: @tiktok_us)

JAKARTA - The TikTok social media platform owned by ByteDance announced on Wednesday February 14 that it would increase resistance to fake news and covert influence operations ahead of the European Parliament election in June by launching local language apps across 27 countries.

TikTok says individual "election centers" local language selection centers are expanding the work they first started in 2021, which was accelerated last year when Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, and Spain held elections.

The app is designed to provide better information to Europeans about the electoral process.

Governments and politicians around the world are concerned about the spread of misinformation and the use of deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence to influence elections, especially the role of social media platforms.

As many as 30% of EU lawmakers use TikTok, the company said.

"Next month, we will launch an in-app Local Language Election Center for each of the 27 EU member states to ensure people can easily separate fact from fiction," Kevin Morgan, TikTok's EMEA trust & safety chief, said in a blog post.

"In collaboration with local election commissions and civil society organizations, this Election Center will be a place where our community can find reliable and authoritative information," he said.

The company works with news checks to produce educational videos about the election process and misinformation through election centers during the previous national elections.

Morgan said TikTok, which currently works with nine fact-checking organizations in Europe, plans to expand its fact-checking network and launch nine additional media literacy campaigns this year.

They will introduce a hidden influence operation report dedicated in the coming months to increase transparency and accountability.