About Research API

TikTok's Research API allows independent and academic researchers who work for a non-profit institution to access certain data, including the following information about public account owners who are 18 and over.

• Videos - Videos configured to "Everyone" for who can watch, and for such videos, the total number of likes, total number of comments, voice-to-text, subtitles, the time of creation and video length.
• Comments - comment text, and total number of likes, replies, and the time the comment was posted.
• Accounts - bios, profile pictures, the total number of followers and the number of people who are followed by the account.

This Research API supports research in areas such as misinformation, disinformation, violent extremism, social trends, and community building. In order to obtain access to TikTok's Research API, researchers must submit an application, be approved, and adhere to our Community Guidelines, TikTok Research API Services Terms of Service, as well as be approved by their research institution's ethics committee.

Additional information about TikTok's Research API can be found on TikTok for Developers.

Data Sharing Pilot

The EU Digital Services Act ("DSA") requires platforms such as TikTok to share certain data with qualifying researchers. In order to help set up this process under the DSA, TikTok is one of the few platforms participating in a pilot run by the European Digital Media Observatory ("EDMO") to test sharing data with researchers under the DSA.

EDMO's work builds on its earlier initiatives to drive discussions and produce reports (see here) on access to platform data by researchers, including recommendations on data protection safeguards.

TikTok and EMDO are actively engaging in the details of the pilot, together with other stakeholders. TikTok is committed to protecting its users' privacy while facilitating and supporting independent research. TikTok is committed to providing transparency about its efforts to support researchers and will provide further details once available.