Teba Lorenzo (Ferrol, 48 years old) has dedicated practically her entire professional life to developing communication strategies in the technology sector. After studying advertising and public relations in his native Galicia, he has worked in companies as relevant as Yahoo. With 20 years of experience, Lorenzo is now general director of business solutions at TikTok for Spain and Portugal, and believes that the application is “democratizing creativity” through tools that allow stories to be told to users and businesses. Like others platforms, Tiktok has been criticized in different countries for the impact it has on users (who in Spain are already around 19 million). In particular, about mental health and privacy. Lorenzo – in conversation with EL PAÍS – defends that the social network has complied with all European requirements since its Chinese parent company, Bytedance, was classified as a gatekeeper by the European Commission in September 2023. This means that TikTok has to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), the antitrust regulation to “end unfair practices” of giants like Meta or Apple. Question: Has TikTok changed the way that people communicate? Answer: There are two key factors. One is creativity. The platform includes a number of tools that make creating content easy. Another is authenticity. In the end, it is a space where you can communicate with empathy and that connects many people around the world. It's the very nature of the platform itself, which shows content based on your interests, but not necessarily those you know. Q: You mentioned authenticity. However, a trend that is being seen is professionalization in content creation. Isn't this contradictory? A: Authenticity is not at odds with professionalism, in fact, quite the opposite. Increasingly, especially in the business world, we have many brands communicating within TikTok with very professional content. Consumers demand that brands be increasingly authentic, that they tell us what is happening behind closed doors. That's advice we give very often. Educational content also works very well, and one of the ways companies generate this is to tell things that only they really know about. Letting audiences know how they work, what the offices are like, how their employees work, how the products are manufactured, that generates a lot of interest, creates community and produces interactions. That's what authenticity is about, not being imposed. Not wanting to simply send a message without receiving a response in return. Q: TikTok is usually associated with a youth audience, is this perception true? A: The younger generations are always the first to adopt new technologies. That has happened since television, and TikTok is no exception. In the beginning, the younger generations were the ones who launched onto the platform first, but now 67% of users are over 25 years old and 35% over 35, according to a Kantar study.
Communication is two-way and all brands are nourished by the feedback of their potential customers.
Q: What important trends are being seen in video creation? A: On the one hand, the more compact duration and knowing a story from beginning to end. We highly value those people who are able to tell something in a relatively short period of time. We have also seen a paradigm shift when it comes to connecting with users and audiences in a much more up-close and personal way. In the past, communication was more one-way. Advertising campaigns launched a message and it was a question of seeing how far it went. Today it is quite the opposite. Communication is two-way and all brands feed on the feedback of their potential customers. Q: However, misinformation and hate content can also be found on the platform. How does Tiktok address this problem? A: I would divide it into two parts. On the one hand, if we talk about hate speech, the point is clear: it is not allowed on TikTok. We have terms and conditions within the platform that our users accept. We have a moderation team so that this content is not on the platform. We are talking about 40,000 people. The community can participate in it too. Any type of content that does not conform to these terms can be reported. Regarding disinformation, we collaborate with 19 external partners on this type of policy development. In the case of Spain we talk about Newtral and we are in charge of providing the audience with reliable sources regarding certain topics. Q: Recently, you were designated as guardians of digital access by the European Union. How has the company had to adapt in this context? A: Before the deadline we had communicated how we were going to adapt to this regulation. We comply with all policies and regulations of the 150 countries in which we operate and, of course, this was not going to be any different. We work to meet all demands.DVD1241. Teba Lorenzo, head of TikTok Spain. Alvaro Garcia. 11/22/2024Álvaro GarcíaP: However, in countries like the United States they are even considering banning TikTok. Do you think concerns about privacy or data issues are justified? A: Our position is very clear: we consider the law in question to be unconstitutional. We have invested billions in making the data of platform users in the United States secure, in keeping the platform free of foreign interference. If this law were to pass, it would leave seven million companies out of business and silence 170 million Americans. Therefore, evidently, we have appealed because we absolutely disagree. In the case of European user data, it is being migrated from the US and stored in our data centers in Ireland and Norway. Q: Is there any type of strategy you are developing to protect the mental health of users? A : Of course. We believe that users should have the tools at their disposal to make their experience what they want. And for that we need two things. Tools such as controlling screen time or managing comments on our videos. Also the management of the topics on which we want or do not want to see content. On the other hand, there are the security and moderation systems, working with experts who advise us. We have an advisory board in Europe and experts from different countries to see how to evolve security policies. Q: And in the case of the younger audience, are there strategies focused on protecting them? A: Yes. The experience on TikTok is different depending on age, which is why it is so important that parents are close to their children and that users enter the platform with their age. The experience of 13 to 16 years old has some security measures implemented by default, such as not being able to send messages or make direct contacts. In fact, in the feed for users between 13 and 16 years old there is a content restriction and it is different from what someone over 18 years old sees. Additionally, we have parental sync or family sync control tools, which allow parents to control what happens.
We want users to know when it is artificial intelligence and when it is not
Q: What role is artificial intelligence playing within TikTok? A: We are working with artificial intelligence on two levels. On the one hand, we want users to have transparency and correct information, to know when it is artificial intelligence and when it is not. We have developed tools so that the content generated within TikTok with AI is tagged and we have adhered to a credential technology that will allow content created outside the platform to also be tagged. On the other hand, very recently we have launched two new AI tools, Smart Class and Symfony. Symfony allows automation to find the best creative to show to the best audience. Smart Class goes a bit along those lines as well, except that it helps optimize digital advertising campaigns based on audience responses. This is especially relevant for a part of the business fabric in Spain, which are small and medium-sized companies. Many times in SMEs it is the owner who has to do everything, he has to be responsible for logistics, responsible for human resources, marketing director, etc. This type of tools allows us to make their lives a little easier and the digitalization of their communications. Tendencias is a project of EL PAÍS, with which the newspaper aspires to open a permanent conversation about the great future challenges facing our society. The initiative is sponsored by Abertis, Enagás, EY, GroupM, Iberdrola, Iberia, Mapfre, the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), Redeia, and Santander and the strategic partner Oliver Wyman. You can sign up here to receive the weekly newsletter from EL PAÍS Trends, every Tuesday, from the hand of journalist Javier Sampedro.