TikTokโ Faces Complaint โOver Ads Promoting โGPS Tracker for Spousalโค Surveillance
Madrid – Consumer rights organization FACUA has โfiled a formal complaint with Spanish authoritiesโ against TikTok for allowing advertisements of a GPS โขtracking device marketed as a tool to monitor and “hunt” unfaithful partners. The organization alleges the ads promote harassment,violate privacy,and constitute illicit advertising under Spanish law.
The controversy centers on โadvertisements appearing on the platform featuring a mini GPS device pitched โฃwith languageโค explicitly targeting suspicions โof infidelity. One TikTok account, @Mango_Goodman, described the device โas capable of protectingโค children and securing cars,โค butโข also “hunt[ing] who is deceiving you!” Another video featured a voiceover โขsuggesting the device could be used to โcatch a โฃcheating wife, stating, “Sometimes the truthโ is challenging toโ accept, but you need to know โขit.”
FACUA spokesman Rubรฉn Sรกnchez condemned the advertisements, stating, “Beyond machismo, they are directlyโข promoting harassment, surveillance practices.” He argues โthe product โขshould be presented โasโฃ a vehicle tracking device,with a clear warning against its use for spying onโข individuals without their consent -โฃ aโข warning heโ says is conspicuously absent.
The complaint highlightsโฃ TikTok’s own โคcontent moderation standards,โ which pledge to remove โคcontent “that promotes violence, hatredโ or misinformation,” and criticizes the platform for failing to act. “There is no control โคover โanโฃ extraordinarily sensitive product,” Sรกnchez asserted.
FACUA points to โขSpain‘s General Advertising Law of 1988, specifically Article 3, which prohibits advertising that “attentive[s] against the dignity of the person or violates the valuesโค โโand rights recognized โฃin the Spanishโ constitution.”โ The organization is requesting โan examination into the advertisement and โขsale โof โtheโค device, and the opening of sanctioning proceedings.
This complaint follows a โคsimilar action FACUA tookโค last week againstโ onlineโฃ retailer Temu for advertising a comparable โฃtracking device. Though, Sรกnchez indicated the โฃtiktok โคadvertisements are “much stronger” in theirโ promotion of perhaps illegal and harmfulโ behavior. Heโข also suggested the advertising accounts may be unaware they are promotingโ aโ crime, even while exhibiting “clearly macho โคbehavior.”