BRUSSELS (Reuters) – TikTok on Thursday opened up its research software to European investigators ahead of new EU rules that require Big Tech to do more to police content online.
TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, is one of 19 online platforms and search engines subject to stricter requirements that will begin in August under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The company said it was still waiting for the European Commission to set technical conditions for the application program interface (API) to access its data but decided to go ahead.
“TikTok is continuously driving its Search API ahead of technical guidance and launching a library of ad content ahead of the DSA compliance deadline,” the social media app said in a statement.
“All researchers will need to have their own TikTok Developer account and be in the United States or Europe to access our Research API.”
The company released the first version of its Research API to academic researchers in the United States earlier this year.
TikTok on Thursday also allowed researchers to access its ad content API.
To comply with the DSA’s transparency rules on paid advertising, the company opened up its database of information about paid ads and ad metadata.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Alex Richardson)
Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.
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