TikTok and YouTube pass new test to detect foreign election disinformation ads in UK
Ahead of the UK general election, both platforms rejected a set of prohibited foreign-interference/disinformation ads, a rare pass that contrasts with failures elsewhere.
Executive summary
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Ahead of the UK's 2024 general election, Global Witness submitted a small set of advertisements to TikTok and YouTube containing foreign-interference-style election disinformation, including content referencing Brazil, Denmark and Kenya as well as UK-specific material. Examples included a video urging voters to reject parties over a fabricated "genocide against Russian-speaking Ukrainians" alongside images of Rishi Sunak, Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and a fake "UK Election Authority" ad threatening criminal penalties for voting without a driving licence.
Both platforms rejected the submitted ads in this instance, a result the investigators describe as encouraging but inconsistent with the platforms' track record elsewhere: YouTube had approved 100% of disinformation ads tested in India and roughly 87% in Ireland, while TikTok failed to detect any of the 16 disinformation ads submitted in the Ireland test.
The report frames the UK result as evidence that platforms are technically capable of catching this type of content when they choose to prioritize it, raising questions about why enforcement is markedly weaker in other national contexts and elections.
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