Obliged to comply with a new European regulation on digital platforms by the end of August, the Chinese social network opens its data to researchers and regulators.

Clock is ticking for the TikTok social network. This Thursday, July 20, the Chinese company ByteDance, parent company of the short video sharing application, announced the launch of new “transparency tools” to make its data more accessible.

An outpouring of generosity that is not really one: like 19 other online platforms, TikTok must now comply with the new European Union regulation on digital services (DSA), in force since November 2022. These are stricter rules on the moderation of sensitive content that ByteDance and TikTok will have to comply with by the end of August, otherwise they will lose their 125 million European users.

.Open Pandora’s box to researchers

Concretely, the new “transparency tools” announced by ByteDance are not aimed at Internet users, but they should eventually allow them to better understand the workings of TikTok. The first concerns researchers and scientists wishing to study more closely the functioning of the social network. ByteDance thus announces that it is implementing a new technical interface dedicated to “facilitating independent research on the platform and bringing transparency to TikTok content“, according to the company’s press release.

More or less restricted access to part of its data that ByteDance has already been testing since the beginning of the year in the United States, where TikTok is also facing threats of a ban. The platform would thus have received “more than 60 requests from American university researchers, on subjects related to consumer trends, disinformation, mental health”, indicates the company … Without specifying if it accepted these requests, notes AFP.

Access to paid advertising and partnerships

The second tool is aimed at the main detractors of TikTok: the political class and European regulators. ByteDance thus announces that it is opening its “commercial content library”, i.e. the list of advertisements and commercial content that are presented on the platform. This includes paid partnerships with influencers, which are sometimes opaque for young TikTok users.

This is one of the key points of tension between the European Union and the social network. The day before these announcements, the European commissioner in charge of digital regulation, Thierry Breton, pointed out that among the 125 million users in the EU, “most of them are teenagers”. The new regulation also plans to prohibit the use of sensitive data for targeted advertising.

More or less restricted access to part of its data that ByteDance has already been testing since the beginning of the year in the United States, where TikTok is also facing threats of a ban. The platform would thus have received “more than 60 requests from American university researchers, on subjects related to consumer trends, disinformation, mental health”, indicates the company … Without specifying if it accepted these requests, notes AFP.

Access to paid advertising and partnerships

The second tool is aimed at the main detractors of TikTok: the political class and European regulators. ByteDance thus announces that it is opening its “commercial content library”, i.e. the list of advertisements and commercial content that are presented on the platform. This includes paid partnerships with influencers, which are sometimes opaque for young TikTok users.

This is one of the key points of tension between the European Union and the social network. The day before these announcements, the European commissioner in charge of digital regulation, Thierry Breton, pointed out that among the 125 million users in the EU, “most of them are teenagers”. The new regulation also plans to prohibit the use of sensitive data for targeted advertising.