TikTok’s AI Ads Policy Not Working

I’ve been struggling to tell if the ads appearing in my TikTok feeds were created using AI creative tools. As someone who spends a lot of time scanning photos and videos for the usual “news” that something was artificially created, some of the promotions I saw certainly raised suspicions. For several weeks, I didn’t see any examples of AI disclosure required by TikTok’s advertising policies, so I had no way of knowing for sure.

What bothers me is that someone Knows for sure whether the content was generated by artificial intelligence. They don’t tell the rest of us. If companies do so Call for support for AI labeling initiatives If they really wanted to succeed, they would probably do something about it.

Take Samsung, for example. after Videos generated by artificial intelligence Across her social media channels, I started noticing teasers for the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s Privacy View feature popping up on my TikTok. Videos from the same promotional campaign were posted on YouTube with disclosures in their breakdown descriptions that AI tools were used in its making. In comparison, TikTok’s ads gave no indication of whether AI was used. Regular videos on Samsung’s TikTok accounts — ones that aren’t actively promoted as ads — also lack AI disclosures, despite the videos themselves being labeled as AI-generated on YouTube.

It is important to note that both Samsung and TikTok are members of Content Authenticity Initiativea group that aims to make content authenticity and transparency “scalable and accessible” by encouraging industry-wide adoption C2PA. This means that TikTok and Samsung will presumably share similar ideals when it comes to naming AI content. If Samsung had intentionally used AI in producing its videos, it should have told TikTok when to send ads. If TikTok is notified, it should make sure its users are aware Platform advertising policies.

Advertisers on TikTok are only allowed to use “significantly” edited or AI-generated content if they advertise. This can be achieved by applying TikTok’s own AI tag, or by adding a disclaimer, caption, watermark or sticker of the advertiser’s choice, according to the video platform’s advertising policy:

“When we say ‘significantly modified by AI’, we mean content that has been changed by AI beyond minor edits or improvements. This includes using real images or videos as source material but significantly changing them using AI, such as:

• Content that contains images, videos or audio clips generated entirely by artificial intelligence

• Show the main subject doing something they haven’t already done, such as dancing.

•Have the main character say something they haven’t already said, using AI voice reproduction.

Samsung did not respond to my requests for comment. TikTok pointed this out to me AI labeling requirements to advertisers and its C2PA partnership, but declined to provide a recorded statement on why Samsung’s AI-generated ads received a pass. I still don’t know what step in this transparency process failed.

I discovered a new development earlier this week – TikTok ads promoted by UK-based used car retailer Cazoo that I previously encountered without The disclosure now has a message that reads “Advertiser is labeled as AI-generated” at the bottom, next to the “Ad” ID. I actually suspected that the ads in question were likely to be AI-generated because they all contained strange visual distortions that had no rational explanation for the modification, such as a dentist’s drill turning into different shapes and jumping between the hands.

I can’t tell if Samsung’s ads on TikTok have undergone a similar update because it’s been several days since any of them were promoted to my feeds. AI transparency across Samsung’s TikTok accounts is generally a mess, though some have TikTok’s AI tag applied, others have a disclosure manually inserted into the fine print of the video, and many AI-generated examples carry no disclosure at all.

There is currently no reliable technology solution to reliably identify AI-generated content, or even human-generated content, at scale. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the drawbacks of authentication standards like C2PA Content Credentials, SynthID, and other source-based systems that try to tell users how to create a piece of content — they need everyone on board to work effectively, and that’s simply not happening. This is a problem when people struggle to know what is real and what is not in the mainstream Geopolitical landscape.

But this applies to online content in general, whereas advertising is a regulated industry that is supposed to operate according to a different set of rules.

Many of these rules are in place to protect consumers from misleading or outright lying by advertisers, such as laws that prevent cosmetics companies from imposing false eyelashes on models to sell their mascara. Beauty influencers on TikTok like Mikayla Nogueira They found out the hard way that these rules apply to them when promoting products, which their audience tends to react poorly to Shilling’s tactics are dishonest.

This does not mean that generated videos are always misleading, but concerns about advertising transparency have prompted the European Union, China and South Korea to introduce AI-specific labeling requirements in promotional materials. Even companies that have not pledged to support AI transparency initiatives could risk future fines if they do not work together.

If big online platforms like TikTok and advertisers like Samsung can’t be honest with each other about the use of AI in such a regulated environment, well, then anyone can advertise any nonsense they want. I’m glad that at least some AI stickers for ads started appearing on TikTok after I reported directly to the companies involved in the ads. But this is a simple two-way system, and it should actually be implemented and strongly enforced without I need people like me to scan every ad in their feeds.