TikTok Allows Gambling Ads in Australia Despite Ban - Newstbt.com

As some legislators in the United States have called for the full prohibition on TikTok, a video sharing platform founded in China, it is seen as breaking its own regulations in Australia. According to TikTok’s stated policies, it does not support advertisements of any forms linked to gambling. Despite this, the company has still allowed Sportsbet, through a test program, to begin advertising on its platform.

ABC News recently reported on the “limited trial” of a gambling advertisement from Australian sportsbook Sportsbet, one of seven being run on the popular social media platform, TikTok. Though the advertisement has proven to be controversial due to the anti-gambling environment in Australia, lovers of the platform will be pleased to know that there are measures in place to ensure that users under the age of 21 are barred from seeing the advertisement—namely that the company is confident that it can prevent anyone younger than 21 from seeing the gambling spots. Still, the dialogue about such an advertisement has been met with criticism due to the platform’s high percentage of under-17 users, according to data provided by internet commerce site Oberlo, outnumbering the 21 or older demographic by 25%. Thus, the future of Sportsbet’s pilot is in question and it is unlikely that it will find more permanent footing on TikTok.

Attracting Younger Bettors

Sportsbet is said to have approached TikTok about starting a pilot program for its newly launched streaming music service, TikTok Music. Although it remains unknown how much Sportsbet paid for this opportunity, it is doubtful that TikTok allowed the gambling-related ads to run for free. The adverts are comprised of disguised videos with no hint of the betting contexts until a closer inspection reveals the Sportsbet name as well as “Gamble Responsibly”, the compulsory warning by government. On the other hand, scheduling of the ads is not authorised, which would inevitably lead to penalties by authorities. Further to that, the new taglines recently approved by Australia are set to start running; an example of one such line is “What are you prepared to lose today? Set a deposit limit” which would likely cover the whole TikTok screen. This has sparked calls for a TikTok Ban.

Calls for a TikTok Ban

Several Australian legislators have called for the abandonment of a pilot project and a full prohibition on gambling advertisement. Likewise, US authorities are proposing to ban the video streaming platform, TikTok. This is not the first time a ban has been asked for, however the request to extinguish TikTok came simultaneously with the US midterm elections. Apart from financial sponsorship from well-known power players like BlackRock and Sequoia Capital, TikTok is led by ByteDance, a Chinese Corporation. Data collected by the platform joins back to Chinese HQ until they decided to move it to the US until controversies about the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) potentially intercepting the collected information arose. TikTok promised that the data is kept inside the network and that no outside source may access it, yet certain legislators remain wary of the platform’s words.

Senators Josh Hawley and Rick Scott have expressed their concern that members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are part of ByteDance’s board of directors. They see this as an inherent security risk. The popular video-based app TikTok is reported to have a secondary line of servers based in Singapore, which serves as a backup to its primary network and keeps copies of US data stored there. Despite this, there have been some representatives from the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department which have called for a ban on TikTok. Although it is unlikely that this occurs, modifications are likely occurring.