TikTok has made improvements To continually improve detection and remove misinformation from its platform.
Some key investments this year, include investment in machine learning models and increased capacity to iterate on these models rapidly given the fast-changing nature of misinformation.TikTok has also released its community guidelines enforcement report that seeks to bring visibility to the content and accounts removed during Q2 2021 that violate its community guidelines.
TikTok recognises the impact misinformation can have in eroding trust in public health, electoral processes, facts, and science and has committed to being part of the solution and treating misinformation with the utmost seriousness.
“We take a multi-pronged approach to stopping it from spreading while elevating authoritative information and investing in digital literacy education to help get ahead of the problem at scale.”
TikTok’s latest data from April-June 2021 shows, 81,518,334 videos were removed globally for violating our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, which is less than 1% of all videos uploaded.
Of those videos, 93.0% were within 24 hours of being posted, 94.1% were before a user reported them, and 87.5% at zero views.
“We also continued to roll out the technology in additional markets that automatically detect and remove some categories of violative content. As a result, 16,957,950 of the total removals were handled through this technology. “
TikTok also offers creators the ability to appeal their video’s removal and will reinstate content that’s been incorrectly removed. From April-June, 4,663,387 videos were reinstated after being appealed. We aim to be consistent and equitable in our moderation practices and strive to reduce false positives through ongoing policy training and quality checks.
“Our integrity policies aim to promote a trustworthy, authentic experience. Within those, our harmful misinformation policies prohibit content that could mislead our community about civic processes, public health, or safety. For instance, we do not allow medical misinformation about vaccines or COVID-19 and we do not allow misinformation about voting. These policies can be applied to a wide range of content, and that’s by design; this content is constantly changing, often based on what’s happening in the world.”
In addition to removing content that is inaccurate and harms our users or community, TikTok also removes accounts that seek to mislead people or use TikTok to deceptively sway public opinion. These activities range from inauthentic or fake account creation to more sophisticated efforts to undermine public trust.
TikTok has also launched a proactive detection program with fact-checkers who flag new and evolving claims they’re seeing across the internet. This allows them to look for these claims on the platform and remove violations.
