TikTok CEO Talks With EU Commissioner On Battles Against Disinformation

ByteDance-owned short video app TikTok’s new chief executive Kevin Mayer met with one commissioner of the European Union on Wednesday about fighting disinformation on the social media platform, CNBC reported, quoting the commissioner’s post on twitter.

Thierry Breton, the commissioner at the European Union who is serving the bloc’s internal market and shaping digital policy, tweeted on Wednesday that he had a “good conversation” with Kevin Mayer, CEO of TikTok.

“Entertaining millions, TikTok has a role to play against disinformation, especially in the fight,” Breton tweeted.

Breton also invited major social media platforms to subscribe to the EU’s “Code of Practice on Disinformation” to address the spread of fake news and improve transparency.

Published in September 2018, the Code of Practice was signed voluntarily by several internet giants including Facebook, Google, Twitter, Mozilla and Microsoft, as well as by advertisers to present their roadmaps to implement the code.

In the first half of 2019, the European Commission carried out a targeted monitoring of the implementation of the commitments by Facebook, Google and Twitter to the integrity of the European elections. The Commission asked the platforms signatory to the Code of Practice to report on a monthly basis on their actions to ensure transparency of political advertising, and to tackle fake accounts and malicious use of bots.

CNBC reported that TikTok has also signed up to the Code of Practice.

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Mayer, the former Walt Disney’s top streaming executive resigned in May to become the CEO of TikTok and the COO of its parent company, the Bejing-based ByteDance. With his new role being effective on June 1, May is overseeing the company’s global development and corporate functions including corporate development, sales, marketing, public affairs, security, auditing and law. The hire marks TikTok’s new move to appease the concerns about the platform’s links to its Chinese parent company.