TikTok, a social media platform owned by ByteDance, has announced that it will intensify its efforts to combat fake news and covert influence campaigns ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. The company will introduce a local language app in all 27 countries, which will feature individual “election centres” that aim to inform Europeans about the election process and provide authoritative information.
The app builds on work that TikTok started in 2021, and which accelerated during national elections in Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia and Spain last year. TikTok’s head of trust & safety EMEA, Kevin Morgan, said that the Election Centres will be developed in collaboration with local electoral commissions and civil society organisations to ensure that people can easily separate fact from fiction.
The company also plans to expand its fact-checking network and launch nine additional media literacy campaigns this year. It will introduce dedicated covert influence operations reports in the coming months to increase transparency and accountability. Approximately 30% of European Parliament lawmakers use TikTok.
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