According to Dekker-Abdulaziz, who advocates banning the TikTok app on all civil servants’ work phones, BNR research editors find the findings not only shocking and startling, but also frightening. Investigative journalists fed inflammatory videos and Sigrid Kaag’s home address into TikTok’s advertising system, which was approved by the moderation process. In principle, the videos would simply have been published if the journalists had not denounced them. Doxxing in combination with calling for violence. “This is really scary, because everyone is so vulnerable.”
Digital Services Act
Dekker-Abdulaziz has pinned his hopes on the Digital Service Act, a European law which will come into force next year and which will provide “sufficient tools” to enforce it. Meanwhile, doxxing is not yet banned in the Netherlands, according to the deputy, this law still needs to be approved by the Senate.
“I thought most social media platforms performed together after 2016.”
Never mind that Dekker-Abdulaziz believes a company like TikTok should take action too. “They also say they have some kind of platform where they check before something like this is published. Apparently that doesn’t happen. In any case, they should be more transparent about it.”
‘I think other social media platforms also have such a committee on a moderation team. This will soon be required by the Digital Services Act. So it’s a really good thing if it’s organised. They should be more transparent about it.’
“I don’t think it’s a desirable app right now”
Unwanted app
When asked if TikTok shouldn’t simply be banned, the MP says he finds it difficult. ‘I don’t think it’s a desirable app right now. I haven’t openly advocated a ban, but I did say if the advice should be that civil servants shouldn’t work with this app under any circumstances. Because that could send dangerous information and data from all of us as civil servants or people with a government work phone to a regime we don’t trust.’
Dekker-Abdulaziz finds it difficult to ban it completely because this requires a European or international approach. “That’s why the European Digital Services Act will soon be possible.”
Government response
Asked for a response to the BNR’s findings, Kingdom Home Affairs and Relations Minister Hanke Bruins Slot says the national government will send a message when it reports that blatantly false information has been released about the election.
‘Of course, what the national government does in any case is simply communicate on the site when the elections will be held. People bring that door to door, of course, even home. And furthermore, if we really see that the information is incorrect, we will also send a message about it, for example.’
“An example of this is that a few years ago, for example, people had said on Twitter, ‘If you tick two boxes, you cast a good grade.’ That was one of those times that even we as a ministry pointed to social media: shouldn’t you do something with this information because it’s not correct?’