Enhancing Transparency and Accountability on TikTok

TikTok is committed to creating a responsible and equitable platform where users can safely create, share, and enjoy creative and entertaining content. They understand the importance of trust and have made a commitment to being open about how they moderate and recommend content.

To fulfill this commitment, TikTok has implemented several concrete actions to earn people's trust. They launched Transparency and Accountability Centers two years ago, which allow experts to access information about their moderation practices and recommendation system. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, TikTok has hosted virtual sessions with hundreds of guests and plans to open physical centers soon.

TikTok has also been publishing transparency reports since the early days of the platform. They have increased the frequency of reporting and expanded the level of transparency in each quarterly Community Guidelines Enforcement Report. For example, they were the first platform to report the number of under-age-13 accounts removed and provide a breakdown of content removals across different policies.

In addition, TikTok has established Content Advisory Councils in various regions, including the US, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Asia Pacific, Brazil, and Latin America. These councils consist of independent experts who advise on content policies and safety strategies.

TikTok understands that everyone's TikTok experience is unique, so they provide options for people to customize their preferences. They recently introduced a feature that allows users to filter keywords and hashtags associated with content they don't want to see in their feeds. TikTok will continue to roll out additional features and tools in the future.

TikTok strives to exceed the expectations of their community and stakeholders. To achieve this, they have been listening to feedback from researchers, academics, and experts, and are now introducing new initiatives to enhance the transparency and accountability of their platform.

One of these initiatives is providing API access to researchers to study the TikTok platform. Currently, researchers face challenges in identifying and assessing content and trends on the platform. TikTok is developing a research API to improve access to public and anonymized data about content and activity on TikTok. This API will be made available to selected researchers later this year.

TikTok is also developing a moderation system API, which will allow researchers to evaluate their content moderation systems and examine existing content on the platform. This API will be accessible at their Transparency and Accountability Centers, where researchers will also have the opportunity to upload their own content for evaluation.

Furthermore, TikTok will be deepening information sharing with their Content and Safety Advisory Councils. The experts on these councils will be granted API access and access to confidential information, such as their keyword lists, for deeper analysis. These keyword lists are not publicly available to prevent bad actors from exploiting their safeguards. The insights and perspectives from these experts will strengthen TikTok's approach.

Lastly, TikTok will expand their transparency reports to include information about countering covert influence operations. They pride themselves on the authenticity of their creators and their content, and do not tolerate activities that undermine the integrity of their platform. In their quarterly Community Guidelines Enforcement Reports, they will provide insights about the covert influence operations they identify and remove globally, demonstrating their commitment to combating attempts to mislead their community.

These initiatives are already in progress and will be launched in the coming months. TikTok will provide updates on their progress as they continue to innovate and enhance transparency and accountability. If you have any feedback or ideas, please email transparency@tiktok.com.