Indie publisher and developer Finzy has accused TikTok of using generative AI to alter ads for its games on the platform without its knowledge or permission. Finzi, who adored indie darlings And , She said she only became aware of the apparently modified ads after being alerted by followers of her official TikTok account.
As reported Finzi alleges that an advertisement that appeared on the platform was modified so it displayed a “racist, sexist” representation of a character from one of its games. While it advertises on TikTok, it said ign that the AI in it is “turned off completely”, but after CEO and co-founder Rebekah Saltsman received screenshots of the ads belonging to fans, she contacted TikTok to investigate.
Several Finji ads have appeared on TikTok, some of which include montages of the company’s games, and others that are game-specific such as one for normal june. according to ignThe offending AI-modified ads (which are still posted as if they were coming directly from Finji) appeared as a slideshow. Some of the images don’t appear to be that different from the source, but the one seen by IGN shows a possibly AI-generated example normal juneThe female lead with “a bikini bottom, impossibly large hips and thighs, and boots that rose above her knees”. Needless to say (and evident from the official screenshot used as the lead image for this article), the character does not appear like this in the game.
As for TikTok’s response, IGN published several of the platform’s responses to Finzi’s complaints, in which it initially said, in part, that it found no evidence that “AI-generated assets or the slideshow format are being used.” This was despite Finji sending a screenshot of the clearly edited image mentioned above on the customer support page. In a subsequent exchange, TikTok appeared to accept the evidence and assured the publisher that it would “no longer dispute whether this happened.” It said it has escalated the matter internally and is conducting a thorough investigation.
TikTok has a “Smart Creative” option on its ad platform, which essentially uses generative AI to modify user-created ads to push out multiple versions that audiences respond to more positively when used more frequently. Another option are features, which use AI to automatically optimize things like music, audio effects, and general visual “quality” to “enhance the user’s viewing experience.” Saltsman showed ign There is evidence that Finji has turned off both of these options, which was also confirmed by a TikTok agent for the related ad.
After several frustrating exchanges, in which TikTok finally admitted to Saltsman that the ad “raises important issues, including the unauthorized use of AI, the sexualization and misrepresentation of your characters, and the resulting commercial and reputational harm to your studio,” the Finzi co-founder was offered some clarification.
TikTok said Finzi’s campaign used a “Catalog ad format” designed to “demonstrate the performance benefits of combining carousels and video assets in sales campaigns.” It said this “initiative” helped advertisers “achieve better results with less effort”, but did not directly address harmful content. Finzi also appears to have chosen this ad format without even realizing it had done so. When contacted, TikTok declined to comment on the matter ign.
Saltsman was told that the issue could not be escalated further, as communications had not been resolved at that time. ign Its report is being published. In a statement to the outlet, Saltsman said she was “a little surprised by TikTok’s lack of appropriate response to this glitch.” They made up.” She added that she expected both an apology and clear assurances that a similar issue would not happen again, but “obviously I wasn’t holding my breath for any of the above.”
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