The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok was hit with multiple complaints from EU consumer groups on Tuesday for allegedly violating the bloc’s consumer laws and for failing to protect children from hidden advertising and inappropriate content.
Owned by China’s ByteDance, TikTok has been rapidly growing in popularity around the world, particularly among teenagers. It faces growing criticism about its privacy and safety policies following a number of incidents.
European consumer group BEUC cited several issues in its complaint, among them its terms of service.
“They are unclear, ambiguous and favour TikTok to the detriment of its users. Its copyright terms are equally unfair as they give TikTok an irrevocable right to use, distribute and reproduce the videos published by users, without remuneration,” it said.
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It said the company’s virtual item policy where users can purchase coins to use for virtual gifts for TikTok celebrities whose performance they like, contains unfair terms and misleading practices.
“TikTok fails to protect children and teenagers from hidden advertising and potentially harmful content on its platform,” BEUC said.
The company’s practices for the processing of users’ personal data are misleading, it said.
By Foo Yun Chee; Editor: Jason Neely
At The Business of Fashion’s Professional Summit in New York last week, Sona Abaryan, partner and global retail and luxury sector lead at tech-enabled data science firm Ekimetrics, shared how businesses can more effectively leverage AI-driven insights on consumer behaviour to achieve a customer-centric strategic approach.
From customer loyalty types to its pillars of personalisation, SAP Emarsys customer engagement provides more than 1,500 companies with personalised marketing campaigns via AI-powered analytics, including Puma, Aldo and Reformation. BoF learns more.
Before fashion businesses can put artificial intelligence to work or target the right shoppers online, they need good data and a deep understanding of who their customers are and what they want. This case study offers a guide for brands that want to truly know their customer, allowing them to make smarter decisions that serve shoppers and drive results.
The US House of Representatives approved a bill that could ultimately lead to a ban of the app, but its path forward remains far from certain.