Enforcement

Last updated, March 2023

Public Interest Exceptions

We recognize that some content that would otherwise violate our rules can be in the public interest to view. This does not simply refer to what the public may be interested in. Public interest refers to topics that inform, inspire, or educate the community and enhance deliberation about matters of broad collective significance. We may allow content to remain on the platform under one of the following public interest exceptions:

• Documentary
• Educational
• Medical and Scientific
• Counterspeech
• Satirical
• Artistic

Our approach to content moderation uses the same criteria, no matter who creates it. The most important factor we consider in looking at public interest exceptions is context, such as captions, voice over, and similar signals. We encourage creators to clearly show the context to help us in our review process.

We may add extra safety measures to some content allowed under a public interest exception, such as an “opt-in” screen or warning information. We do not provide public interest exceptions for content that may cause extreme harm, such as showing a suicide or sexual abuse of a young person.

Detection and Reporting

We aim to remove content or accounts that violate our guidelines before they are viewed or shared by other people in order to reduce potential harm. Content on TikTok first goes through technology that reviews it against our guidelines. If content is identified as a potential violation, it will be automatically removed, or flagged for additional review by our trust & safety team. Additional review will occur if a video gains popularity or has been reported. Community members can report violations in-app and on our website. If you discover content or accounts that may violate our guidelines, please let us know so we can take appropriate action if warranted. Learn more about our enforcement efforts through our Transparency Center.

Notice and Appeals

In keeping with our commitment to ensuring procedural fairness, we seek to provide notifications to community members if they have violated our rules. If you have posted a video, comment, audio, or livestreamed content that we do not allow, you will be notified in the app along with the violation reason. If your account has been banned because of a violation, you will receive a banner notification when you next open the app, informing you of this account change. If you receive a notification of a content violation or account ban and believe that it was done in error, then you can appeal the decision. You can view the status of your appeal in the in-app Safety Center, as well as the status of any reports you have filed about other content or accounts.