National Trust pulls TikTok ads after platform’s AI publishes unauthorised videos
Cartoon · AI-generated
The charity has suspended its TikTok advertising while it investigates how AI-generated promotional material went live without approval.
The National Trust has suspended all advertising on TikTok after a run of AI-generated promotional videos appeared without the charity’s approval, prompting questions about how an automated feature on the platform was allowed to publish material that looked markedly unlike the organisation’s normal campaigns. According to the charity, the adverts were created in error by TikTok Ads and were never meant to go live.
In a statement posted on LinkedIn, the National Trust said it had paused its TikTok activity while it investigated what happened. A spokesperson later told Civil Society that the charity was working directly with TikTok to understand the incident and to put extra safeguards in place so it would not happen again. The pause is set to remain in place while that inquiry continues.
The episode has drawn criticism from marketers who said the AI-made videos sat awkwardly beside the National Trust’s established identity and its broader environmental and climate campaigning. Charlotte Anstee, a digital marketing executive at Ocean, wrote on LinkedIn that she was surprised the material had slipped through, saying local social media teams had previously been told there was an AI ban. Alex Pollard, managing director of Pollard Media, told Civil Society that the situation was especially striking given the charity’s extensive image archive and its reputation for promoting real landscapes and historic places.
The controversy also reflects wider unease about automated creative tools increasingly being built into advertising platforms. Harri Brown, co-founder of Antler Social, told Civil Society that advertisers using TikTok’s paid business tools can avoid unexpected AI-generated assets by disabling the setting that automatically adds newly generated material during delivery. He added that any AI assets already inserted into an ad group can be removed manually. The National Trust’s case now stands as another example of how quickly platform automation can overtake brand control if safeguards are not properly managed.
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Source: Noah Wire Services · Original