TikTok is a short-form video app that has exploded in popularity in recent years, especially among younger audiences. The app lets users create and share 15 to 60 second videos, often set to music or featuring meme content. TikTok is owned by Chinese company ByteDance and has over 1 billion monthly active users globally.
With its huge userbase, TikTok has become an extremely influential platform. This has led to calls for more transparency around paid advertising on TikTok. An ad library allows the public to see what ads are running on a platform, who they are targeted to, and how much is being spent. Ad libraries help hold platforms accountable and provide insights into what interests advertisers are targeting.
Other major social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Google all have some form of ad library. However, TikTok does not currently provide a comprehensive ad library. This has raised concerns around the lack of transparency into advertising and promoted content on the wildly popular app.
What is an Ad Library?
An ad library is a public database that provides transparency into advertisements run by advertisers, especially those related to social issues, elections, and politics. Ad libraries allow users to search for details about ads that are currently running or have previously run on a given platform.
Some major platforms with ad libraries include:
- Facebook – The Meta Ad Library contains data on all ads running across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network.
- Twitter – The Twitter Ads Transparency Center allows users to view details about ads run by Twitter advertisers.
- Google – Google provides an Ad Library Report with data on election, political, and issue ads.
These ad libraries allow the public, regulators, academia, and the media to analyze trends, spending, targeting, and content in ads. They promote transparency and accountability around paid messaging on digital platforms.
Current TikTok Ad Transparency
TikTok currently has some ad transparency features in place, though not as robust as some other platforms. In July 2022, TikTok launched the “About this Ad” feature which provides users some information about ads they are seeing such as why they are being shown that ad and advertiser details. Users can also opt out of targeted advertising entirely. However, this is fairly limited compared to the ad libraries offered by platforms like Meta and Google.
For example, Facebook and Instagram both have searchable ad libraries where you can look up exact ads that ran on those platforms, see targeting and spend details, and more. TikTok does not currently have a comparable searchable ad archive. Its transparency features are more focused on in-app controls for users rather than transparency to the public and researchers.
TikTok does publish a twice-yearly transparency report with some aggregated information about government requests, content moderation, and enforcement. However, this does not contain the granular ad data that some have called for TikTok to provide through an ad library.
Calls for a TikTok Ad Library
In recent years, there have been growing calls for TikTok to launch a comprehensive ad library similar to those offered by other major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Advocates argue that an ad library would provide greater transparency around the ads running on TikTok.
According to a 2022 report from Global Witness, a non-profit focused on environmental and human rights issues, TikTok is “falling short when it comes to ad transparency.” The report found that TikTok’s current Commercial Content Library has significant limitations in coverage and searchability compared to libraries offered by Meta and other platforms. Global Witness has called on TikTok to implement an ad library more aligned with industry standards.
In the U.S., a coalition of 18 child safety and consumer advocacy groups sent a letter urging TikTok to launch an ad library to provide insight into ads targeting minors. The groups argue this would help increase protection for younger users. There are also concerns around political advertising and disinformation circulating on TikTok ahead of the 2024 U.S. elections.
Government regulators have joined the calls as well. In June 2022, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators introduced a bill that would require TikTok to maintain a public database of all advertisements on its platform. The goal is to enable monitoring of ads by outside researchers and watchdogs.
TikTok’s Response
TikTok has faced growing pressure to increase transparency around ads on its platform. In response, TikTok announced in June 2022 that it would begin releasing quarterly reports providing aggregate data on advertisements served to U.S. users.
According to TikTok’s first quarterly ad transparency report, the most common product category for ads served in Q1 2022 was gaming, followed by beauty and fitness. TikTok stated it would expand these reports over time to eventually include details like top spenders and creators.
While this marks a step towards more transparency, critics argue TikTok still lags behind platforms like Meta and Twitter that maintain public ad libraries allowing anyone to search for details on all ads run by a specific advertiser. TikTok has not yet committed to implementing a full public ad library.
In January 2023, TikTok announced forthcoming changes to strengthen age appropriate ads and user controls over data collection. However, calls continue for TikTok to follow the standard set by other platforms with a comprehensive ad library providing true accountability and insight into ads and influencer marketing.
Pros of a TikTok Ad Library
A TikTok ad library could provide several key benefits to users, researchers, regulators, and the platform itself. For users, an ad library would offer more transparency into the types of ads running on TikTok. According to The Pros and Cons of Social Media Advertising, social media ads that allow for user interaction can foster positive connections between brands and consumers. An ad library would enable users to better understand the advertising landscape.
For researchers and regulators, a TikTok ad library would make it easier to analyze trends, track misinformation, and study the impact of social media advertising. As noted in What is the advantage of using the Facebook ads library?, Facebook’s ad library provides transparency for monitoring ads. A similar library could bring more accountability to ads on TikTok.
For TikTok, an ad library could build user trust through greater transparency. It would demonstrate the platform’s commitment to giving users access to information about advertising practices. While there are some cons to weigh, overall an ad library would likely be a benefit to key TikTok stakeholders.
Cons of a TikTok Ad Library
While there are benefits to creating an ad library, TikTok may also face some drawbacks or downsides if they decide to launch one. Some potential cons include:
Increased competitive pressure. An ad library would give competitors more insight into TikTok’s top-performing ad creative, targeting, and messaging. This could enable competitors like Facebook and Snapchat to mimic successful ad tactics.
Reduced advertiser flexibility. Advertisers may have less freedom to test different types of creative and targeting approaches if they know competitors can view and potentially replicate their ads.
Higher costs for TikTok. Developing, hosting, and maintaining an ad library requires significant investment. Smaller platforms may lack the resources to build out robust ad transparency tools.
Openness could enable misuse. Bad actors could potentially misuse the ad library data to run discriminatory ads or find loopholes. TikTok would need to closely moderate.
While an ad library could promote transparency, TikTok will need to weigh the potential competitive and cost concerns. There are valid reasons a platform may want to keep some ad data private.
Examples from Other Platforms
Other major social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have implemented ad transparency features like searchable ad libraries. These allow users, researchers, regulators, and watchdog groups to analyze ads that are running on their platforms.
For example, Facebook’s Ad Library provides data on all active ads across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network. It offers options to search by page, advertiser, or specific ad as well as aggregate reports. The library provides details like impressions, spend, demographics, and content of each ad.
Similarly, Twitter launched an Ads Transparency Center in 2019 to offer more visibility into political campaign ads. Users can search and filter ads by criteria like advertiser, impressions, and creative content. Though not as comprehensive as Facebook’s library, it does make political advertising more transparent on Twitter.
Providing this level of transparency into ads allows the public, researchers, and regulators to analyze trends, fact-check claims, identify misinformation, and study how ads target different groups. TikTok does not yet offer a comparable ad library despite growing pressure to do so.
Predictions for the Future
Based on recent trends, it seems likely that TikTok will launch a full ad library at some point. While TikTok currently has the Commercial Content Library, this is limited in scope compared to the ad libraries offered by platforms like Meta and Snapchat. Given TikTok’s rapid growth and calls for more transparency, analysts predict they will expand their ad transparency features.
According to industry experts, TikTok may launch a comprehensive ad library as early as 2023. However, some analysts believe it could take 1-2 years before TikTok develops a robust ad library on par with competitors. Factors impacting the timeline include engineering priorities, regulatory pressure, and how quickly TikTok wants to proactively address transparency concerns versus reacting to external forces.
In summary, an official TikTok ad library seems imminent but the exact launch timing is difficult to pinpoint. 2023 is a possibility but 2024-2025 may be more realistic based on the complexity of building an enterprise-scale ad transparency system. Regardless, TikTok’s trajectory suggests significantly expanded ad transparency is coming sooner rather than later.
Conclusion
In summary, there are compelling reasons for TikTok to implement its own ad library and provide more transparency around political ads and targeting on its platform. An ad library would enable oversight of how ads are being utilized on TikTok and help address concerns around misinformation and manipulation during elections. It would also bring TikTok in line with practices implemented by other major social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google.
However, an ad library is not a silver bullet. There would still be challenges around enforcing transparency and making sure TikTok is fully committed to ethical standards for political advertising. The company would need to provide robust reporting capabilities and give independent auditors access to its data. As TikTok continues to grow as an influential force in digital media and expand into ecommerce, the pressure to operate more transparently and ethically will likely increase. Overall, implementing an ad library would be a major step towards ensuring the public can accurately assess political messaging on the TikTok platform.