Integrity and Authenticity
Last updated, March 2023
We want everyone to feel confident that they can access information that is reliable, discover content that is original, and engage with people who are authentic. This is foundational to building a community of trust and accountability both on TikTok and off-platform.
Misinformation
In a global community, it is natural for people to have different opinions, but we seek to operate on a shared set of facts and reality. We do not allow inaccurate, misleading, or false content that may cause significant harm to individuals or society, regardless of intent. Significant harm includes physical, psychological, or societal harm, and property damage. It does not extend to commercial and reputational harm, nor does it cover simply inaccurate information and myths. We rely on independent fact-checking partners and our database of previously fact-checked claims to help assess the accuracy of content.
Content is ineligible for the FYF if it contains general conspiracy theories or unverified information related to emergencies. To be cautious, content that warrants fact-checking is also temporarily ineligible for the FYF while it is undergoing review.
To help you manage your TikTok experience, we add warning labels to content related to unfolding or emergency events which have been assessed by our fact-checkers but cannot be verified as accurate, and we prompt people to reconsider sharing such content.
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Misinformation includes inaccurate, misleading, or false content.
Significant harm includes severe forms of:
- Physical injury and illness, including death
- Psychological trauma
- Large-scale property damage
- Societal harm, including undermining fundamental social processes or institutions, such as democratic elections, and processes that maintain public health and public safety
Conspiracy theories are beliefs about unexplained events or involve rejecting generally accepted explanations for events and suggesting they were carried out by covert or powerful groups.
NOT allowed
- Misinformation that poses a risk to public safety or may induce panic about a crisis event or emergency, including using historical footage of a previous attack as if it were current, or incorrectly claiming a basic necessity (such as food or water) is no longer available in a particular location
- Medical misinformation, such as misleading statements about vaccines, inaccurate medical advice that discourages people from getting appropriate medical care for a life-threatening disease, and other misinformation that poses a risk to public health
- Climate change misinformation that undermines well-established scientific consensus, such as denying the existence of climate change or the factors that contribute to it
- Dangerous conspiracy theories that are violent or hateful, such as making a violent call to action, having links to previous violence, denying well-documented violent events, and causing prejudice towards a group with a protected attribute
- Specific conspiracy theories that name and attack individual people
- Material that has been edited, spliced, or combined (such as video and audio) in a way that may mislead a person about real-world events
FYF ineligible
- General conspiracy theories that are unfounded and claim that certain events or situations are carried out by covert or powerful groups, such as “the government” or a “secret society”
- Unverified information related to an emergency or unfolding event where the details are still emerging
- Potential high-harm misinformation while it is undergoing a fact-checking review
Allowed
- Statements of personal opinion (as long as it does not include harmful misinformation)
- Discussions about climate change, such as the benefits or disadvantages of particular policies or technologies, or personal views related to specific weather events (as long as it does not undermine scientific consensus)
Civic and Election Integrity
Elections are important moments of community conversation and promote the values of an open society. We try to balance enabling topical discussions, while also being a platform that brings us together and does not divide us. We do not allow paid political promotion, political advertising, or fundraising by politicians and political parties (for themselves or others). Our political ads policy includes both traditional paid ads and creators receiving compensation to support or oppose a candidate for office.
We want to enable the informed exchange of civic ideas in a way that fosters productive dialogue. We do not allow misinformation about civic and electoral processes, regardless of intent. This includes misinformation about how to vote, registering to vote, eligibility requirements of candidates, the processes to count ballots and certify elections, and the final outcome of an election.
Content is ineligible for the FYF if it contains unverified claims about the outcome of an election.
Learn more about Government, Politician and Political Party accounts, and our election integrity work.
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Misinformation includes inaccurate, misleading, or false content.
NOT allowed
Election misinformation, including the following:
- How, when, and where to vote or register to vote
- Eligibility requirements of voters to participate in an election, and the qualifications for candidates to run for office
- Laws, processes, and procedures that govern the organization and implementation of elections and other civic processes, such as referendums, ballot propositions, and censuses
- Final results or outcome of an election
FYF ineligible
- Unverified claims about the outcome of an election that is still unfolding and may be false or misleading
Synthetic and Manipulated Media
We welcome the creativity that new artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies may unlock. However, AI can make it more difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction, carrying both societal and individual risks. Synthetic or manipulated media that shows realistic scenes must be clearly disclosed. This can be done through the use of a sticker or caption, such as ‘synthetic’, ‘fake’, ‘not real’, or ‘altered’.
We balance the expressive value that synthetic media has against the risk of harms to individuals. We do not allow synthetic media that contains the likeness of any real private figure. While we provide more latitude for public figures, we do not want them to be the subject of abuse, or for people to be misled about political or financial issues. We do not allow synthetic media of public figures if the content is used for endorsements or violates any other policy. This includes prohibitions on hate speech, sexual exploitation, and serious forms of harassment (learn more about public figures in Harassment and Bullying).
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Synthetic media is content created or modified by AI technology. It includes highly realistic digitally-created (fake) content of real people, such as a video of a real person speaking but their words have been modified or changed.
Realistic scenes include showing fake people, places or events that look like they are real.
Public figures are adults (18 years and older) with a significant public role, such as a government official, politician, business leader, and celebrity. We do not identify people under the age of 18 as public figures.
NOT allowed
- Synthetic media showing realistic scenes that are not prominently disclosed or labeled in the video
- Synthetic media that contains the likeness (visual or audio) of a real person, including: (1) a young person, (2) an adult private figure, and (3) an adult public figure when used for political or commercial endorsements, or if it violates any other policy
- Material that has been edited, spliced, or combined (such as video and audio) in a way that may mislead a person about real-world events
Allowed
- Synthetic media showing a public figure in certain contexts, including artistic and educational content, such as a video showing a celebrity doing a popular TikTok dance, and a historical figure featured in a history lesson
Fake Engagement
Authentic engagement is central to the integrity of our platform and informs how we recommend content that others may find interesting. We do not allow the trade of services that attempt to artificially increase engagement or deceive TikTok’s recommendation system. If we become aware of accounts or content with inauthentically inflated metrics, we will remove the associated fake followers or likes.
Content is ineligible for the FYF if it seeks to trick or manipulate others to increase followers, likes, or views.
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NOT allowed
- Facilitating the trade of services that artificially increase engagement, such as selling followers or likes
- Providing instructions on how to artificially increase engagement on TikTok
FYF ineligible
- Content that tricks or manipulates others as a way to increase engagement metrics, such as “like-for-like” promises and false incentives for engaging with content
Unoriginal Content and QR Codes
The creativity on TikTok is what makes it great, so you should only post your own work. We do not allow content that violates someone else’s intellectual property rights. If we become aware of content that is a violation, we will remove it. Learn more about our intellectual property (IP) policies.
Content is ineligible for the FYF if it involves unoriginal or reproduced content that does not have any new or creative changes, or contains Quick Response (QR) codes.
If you believe you have experienced an IP violation, you can file a copyright report or a trademark report.
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Intellectual property refers to the ownership of something that you created, which includes copyright and trademarks.
Copyrights are legal rights related to original works of authorship, including music and videos. Copyrights protect the original expression of an idea (such as the specific way a video or music is expressed or created) but do not protect underlying ideas and facts.
Trademarks are words, symbols, slogans, designs, or a combination of these that identifies the source of a product or service and distinguishes it from other products or services.
NOT allowed
- Content that violates someone else’s copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights
FYF ineligible
- Reproduced or unoriginal content that is imported or uploaded without any new or creative edits, such as content with someone else’s visible watermark or superimposed logo
- Low quality content, such as extremely short clips and exclusively-GIF based videos
- QR codes (unless there is a low risk of harm, such as in the context of e-commerce)
Spam and Deceptive Account Behaviors
To build a trusted community online, it is important that the behaviors and identities of accounts are authentic and truthful. We do not allow account behaviors that may spam or mislead our community. This includes conducting covert influence operations, and operating spam or impersonation accounts. Parody/fan-based accounts are allowed, as long as they are disclosed in the account name (note that this is different than the @username).
You can set up multiple accounts on TikTok to create different channels for authentic creative expression, but not for deceptive purposes. We do not allow the use of multiple accounts to intentionally bypass our rules or their enforcement. If any of your accounts have been banned, or restricted from using a feature, you must not set up or use a different account to get around the ban or restriction.
If we determine someone has engaged in any of these deceptive account behaviors, we will ban the account, and may ban any new accounts that are created.
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NOT allowed
- Spam, including
- Accounts that are operated: (1) in bulk, (2) through unauthorized automation, or (3) in order to distribute high-volume commercial content
- Operating networks of accounts that represent similar entities or post similar content to lead others to specific locations (on or off-platform), such as other accounts, websites, and businesses
- Impersonation, including:
- Accounts that pose as another real person or entity, such as using someone’s name, biographical details, content, or image without disclosing it
- Presenting as a person or entity that does not exist (a fake persona) with a demonstrated intent to mislead others on the platform
- Covert influence operations, including:
- Attempting to sway public opinion while misleading our platform’s systems or community members about the identity, origin, operating location, popularity, or purpose of the account
- Circumvention, including:
- Attempting to avoid an account ban by spreading content violations across multiple accounts
- Using an alternative account (either a new or existing one) to continue the violating behavior that previously resulted in a ban on a different account
- Opening a new account after an account has been banned for a severe violation