TikTok has shed light into just how much misinformation is being shared online, goes viral, and can be even more popular than true information in the information age.
Between July and December of last year alone Over 89 Million videos from every corner of the world were removed from the platform for breaking its rules around misinformation on topical issues.
Over the period, the 2020 US Presidential Elections and the Global Coronavirus Pandemic fuelled lost of misinformation, according to TikTok’s Fourth Global Transparency report.
The latest report is the most comprehensive of the last three reports TikTok has released and provides visibility into the volume and nature of content removed from the platform for violating TikTok’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.
With a diverse global community fuelled by creative expression, TikTok said it remains committed to maintaining an environment where everyone feels safe and welcome to create videos, find a community they can relate with, and be entertained.
“The transparency report documents how TikTok responds to content violating its community guidelines, law enforcement requests for information, government requests for content removals, and copyrighted content take-down notices while promoting community well-being and maintaining the integrity of the platform,” reads a statement from TikTok.
Here is preview of the insights from the report;
Community Guidelines enforcement overview:
- 89,132,938videos were removed globally in the second half of 2020 for violating our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, which is less than 1% of all videos uploaded on TikTok.
- 92.4%of these videos were removed before a user reported them, 83.3% were removed before they received any views, and 93.5% were removed within 24 hours of being posted.
- 6,144,040 accounts were removed for violating our Community Guidelines.
- 9,499,881 spam accounts were removed along with 5,225,800 spam videos posted by those accounts. TikTok prevented 173,246,894accounts from being created through automated means.
- 3,501,477ads were rejected for violating advertising policies and guidelines.
The report also includes additional information on the role TikTok is playing to counter COVID-19 misinformation as well as efforts to help the community stay safe and informed on COVID-19 and vaccines. This includes:
- TikTok COVID-19 information hubwas viewed 2,625,049,193 times.
- Banners directing viewers to the COVID-19 information hub were added to 3,065,213 videos.
- Public service announcements (PSAs) on hashtags directing users to the WHO and local public health resources were viewed 38,010,670,666 times.
- 51,505videos were removed for promoting COVID-19 misinformation. Of these videos, 86% were removed before they were reported to us, 87% were removed within 24 hours of being uploaded to TikTok, and 71% had zero views.
For in-depth information and to review the full report, please visit: https://www.tiktok.com/safety/resources/transparency-report-2020-2?lang=en&appLaunch=
