Updates to TikTok's Community Guidelines

TikTok has recently announced updates to its Community Guidelines to further support the well-being of its community and maintain the integrity of its platform. These updates aim to provide clarity on the types of behavior and content that will be removed or made ineligible for recommendation in the For You feed.

Prioritizing Safety and Inclusion

TikTok believes in providing a safe and secure environment for people to express themselves creatively and be entertained. The Community Guidelines establish norms for content creation and reporting, with a focus on safety, inclusion, and authenticity. The platform continuously strengthens its policies by considering emerging trends and threats observed on the internet and the TikTok platform. Feedback from the community, experts, and advisory councils is also valued in this process.

Main Updates

The main updates to TikTok's Community Guidelines include:

Strengthening the policy on dangerous acts and challenges: TikTok is taking a stricter approach to prevent the spread of content that includes suicide hoaxes. This will now be highlighted in a separate policy category with more detail, making it easier for the community to understand and follow these guidelines. Collaboration with experts has also resulted in the creation of videos that guide the community on assessing online challenges and staying safe.
Broadening the approach to eating disorders: In addition to removing content that promotes eating disorders, TikTok will now also remove content that promotes disordered eating. This change is made in consultation with experts to acknowledge symptoms that are often overlooked signs of potential problems. The platform recognizes the complexity of this issue and is training its teams to be more vigilant in identifying such content.
Adding clarity on prohibited hateful ideologies: TikTok explicitly prohibits deadnaming, misgendering, misogyny, and content that supports or promotes conversion therapy programs. While these ideologies have always been prohibited, TikTok has listened to feedback and made it explicit in the Community Guidelines. The recent feature allowing users to add their pronouns is expected to encourage respectful and inclusive dialogue.
Expanding the policy to protect the security and integrity of the platform: TikTok now prohibits unauthorized access to its platform and the use of TikTok for criminal activity. State-of-the-art cyber incident monitoring and investigative response centers are being opened to enhance defenses and educate the community on spotting and reporting suspicious activity.

Ineligible Content Categories

TikTok provides information on content categories that are ineligible for recommendation in the For You feed. While the platform values the ability to discover new ideas and creators, it strives to remove content that may not be appropriate for a general audience. Every member of the community will be prompted to read the updated guidelines.

Enforcement and Accountability

TikTok enforces its Community Guidelines consistently and equitably. A combination of technology and human review is used to identify and remove violations. The most recent enforcement report shows that over 91 million violative videos were removed during Q3 2021, with the majority being removed proactively. The platform continues to improve its systems to detect and remove violations, allowing the team to focus on reviewing contextual or nuanced content.

TikTok is committed to continuously improving its policies and enforcement to create a safe and enriching experience for everyone on the platform.