TikTok Shop's latest IPR Report - Elton John and Dua Lipa join AI copyright legislative debate

TikTok Shop's latest IPR Report

On 4 May, TikTok published its Report on Safety and Intellectual Property Rights for the second half of 2024. This comes at a time when TikTok Shop is growing in popularity in countries such as Spain and Ireland, and amid growing political and regulatory scrutiny of the platform. The report outlines how the company is addressing risks related to sales of counterfeits and the protection of intellectual property rights within its e-commerce ecosystem.

According to the report, TikTok removed more than 90,000 products from its platform for violating internal rules or intellectual property rights, which is a decrease compared to the previous semester, when nearly 124,000 items were taken down. This reduction is partly due to an increase in authorised registered trade marks, which now number over 85,000, and the introduction of more aggressive preventive measures, such as blocking over 7 million products before publication due to suspected infringements.

In addition, the platform increased enforcement of live content and promotional videos. Over 125,000 live streams were interrupted and more than 550,000 videos featuring products or content that violated the platform’s policies were removed. In terms of accounts found to be infringing on intelectual property rights, over 16,000 creators were permanently banned and more than 450,000 seller accounts were deactivated for repeatedly violating TikTok Shop's rules.

One of the report's key highlights is the Intellectual Property Protection Centre (IPPC), a platform that enables rights holders to manage takedown requests for infringing content directly. Between July and December 2024, the IPPC processed over 400,000 takedown requests, and the number of people responsible for reviewing them increased from 1,400 to 1,800.

TikTok has reported that over 700,000 content creators have lost temporary or permanent access to e-commerce features due to violations of its internal policies. While the report does not provide detailed criteria for these suspensions, it suggests that the platform is taking a stricter approach to governing commercial and advertising content.

All in all, these findings show how e-commerce is moderated on TikTok and highlight the need for more independent and critical oversight. As the platform expands into new markets such as France, Germany and Mexico, it is expected that challenges around regulatory compliance, consumer protection and intellectual property enforcement will intensify.

Elton John and Dua Lipa express concerns with UK’s new copyright proposal

In light of the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), more than 400 UK artists, including Elton John, Dua Lipa and Paul McCartney, have sent a letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging an update to copyright laws. The signatories warn that allowing tech companies to use protected works without permission could have a negative impact on the creative industry and on the UK's position as a cultural powerhouse.

The debate centres on a government proposal which, among other aspects, would legalise the use of copyrighted content to train AI models such as those developed by OpenAI and Google. While the measure aims to provide a clear legal framework for innovation, it has faced opposition from the artistic community, who argue that such reform would effectively hand over creative work to large corporations, primarily based outside the UK.

The open letter, which is signed by musicians, writers and actors, supports an amendment proposed by Baroness Beeban Kidron. This amendment demands greater transparency from tech companies and promotes a licensing regime to ensure that creators maintain control over how their work is used. The signatories point out that protecting intellectual property is essential for safeguarding income and fostering cultural innovation.

In short, some groups argue that overly restrictive legislation would limit AI innovation and hinder the country's economic development. However, artists insist that technological progress should not be based on the unauthorised appropriation of creative work, and they are calling for clear legal safeguards to be put in place before any reform is implemented.