Community Guidelines Enforcement Report
April 1, 2023 – June 30, 2023
Published October 12, 2023
About this report
At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. The safety and well-being of our community is our priority, and we have more than 40,000 trust and safety professionals working to protect our users.
This report reflects our updated Community Guidelines, which took effect in April and provide our community with more transparency about our rules and how we enforce them. After consulting with more than 100 organizations globally, we overhauled how we organize our policies, simplified the language we use, and added granularity to help everyone, from creators to researchers, easily access the information they need. We’ve also refreshed various data visualizations to make them easier to read and understand, including for people with color vision deficiency.
These crucial updates underscore our commitment to upholding the values of trust, authenticity, and accountability that are at the core of our TikTok community.
Latest data
DownloadSafety
The information shared in this report reflects to our updated Community Guidelines, with Youth Safety and Well-Being remaining a top priority for us. We are deeply committed to ensuring that TikTok is a safe and positive experience for people under the age of 18.
As part of this commitment, our policies strictly prohibit content that may jeopardize the well-being of young people, including the risk of exploitation or potential psychological, physical, or developmental harm. We prioritize youth safety and well-being throughout our policy development process, which includes the prohibition of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), youth abuse, bullying, dangerous activities and challenges, exposure to overly mature themes, and the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or regulated substances. In cases where we identify instances of youth exploitation on our platform, we will take immediate action, including the banning of the offending account and any associated accounts.
We’re also adding enforcement information for TikTok LIVE, which allows users and creators to interact in real-time. In the second quarter of 2023, we suspended 8,074,632 LIVE sessions. This represents 1.5% of total LIVE sessions during that period. Of this number, 252,045 suspensions were successfully appealed. As an important part of the TikTok experience, we are excited to share more about our LIVE moderation efforts and we will continue to expand on this in future reports.
Video removals relative to publish
Total videos and accounts removed and restored
Removal rates and report response times
Policy distribution of removals
Moderation by market and language
Covert influence operations
Accounts targeting European foreign relations with Russia
We assess that this network operated from Russia and targeted Russian audiences in Russia, Netherlands, Romania, France and the UK. The individuals behind this network created inauthentic accounts and hyper-posted content in order to artificially amplify specific pro-Russia viewpoints in the context of the war in Ukraine, circumventing the regional TikTok ban in Russia.
| Detection source | Accounts in network | Followers of network |
| Internal | 588 | 36,331 |
Accounts targeting Iraqi foreign relations with Russia
We assess that this network operated from Iraq and targeted an Iraqi audience. The individuals behind this network created inauthentic accounts, including the creation of false personas and inauthentic media entities in order to artificially amplify content emphasizing the strategic importance of Russia in Iraq.
| Detection source | Accounts in network | Followers of network |
| Internal | 364 | 524,513 |
Accounts targeting discourse about China
We assess that this network operated from China and targeted US audiences. The individuals behind this network created inauthentic accounts in order to gain user engagement on pro-China viewpoints, pro-China tourism, pro-China culture, and anti-western narratives.
| Detection source | Accounts in network | Followers of network |
| Internal | 108 | 141,621 |
Accounts targeting political discourse in Greece
We assess that this network operated from Greece and targeted a Greek audience. The individuals behind this network created inauthentic accounts and hyper-posted content, artificially amplifying specific narratives favourable to the political party “New Democracy” and critical of the opposition party “Syriza”, targeting Greek elections discourse.
| Detection source | Accounts in network | Followers of network |
| Internal | 69 | 25,898 |
Accounts targeting political discourse in Türkiye
We assess that this network operated from Belgium and targeted a Turkish audience. The individuals behind this network created inauthentic accounts in order to artificially amplify content favorable to president Erdogan and Turkish military, along with content promoting a negative image of the Kurdistan Worker’s party (PKK), targeting discourse about elections in Türkiye.
| Detection source | Accounts in network | Followers of network |
| Internal | 68 | 61,379 |
Accounts targeting political discourse in Thailand
We assess that this network operated from Thailand and targeted a Thai audience. The individuals behind this network created inauthentic accounts, including the extensive creation of false personas, in order to artificially amplify specific pro-PRPP party viewpoints, targeting discourse about the Thai General Elections.
| Detection source | Accounts in network | Followers of network |
| Internal | 31 | 1,817 |
Accounts targeting conflict in Sudan
We assess that this network operated from Sudan and targeted a Sudanese audience. The individuals behind this network created inauthentic accounts in order to artificially amplify content favorable to the paramilitary group Rapid Support Force (RSF), targeting discourse about the ongoing conflict between RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces.
| Detection source | Accounts in network | Followers of network |
| Internal | 17 | 10,213 |
NOTE: Disrupting a covert influence operation requires layered operations, including investigation, removal, and post-mortem analysis. We report the removal of these networks during the quarter in which the full operations process has been completed.
Terminology
- Networks operated from: Indicates geographic location of network operation based on technical and behavioral evidence from proprietary and open sources; TikTok may not be able to attribute networks to specific entities, individuals, or groups.
- Detection source: Denoted as internal when presence of activity is identified solely through an internally driven investigation; external detection refers to investigations that originated through an external report which then led to an investigation.
- Followers of network: Cumulative total number of accounts that followed any account within a network as of the date of that network’s removal.
Security
Protecting our community is our priority. While TikTok is a global platform, we take a localized approach to regulatory compliance, collaborating with stakeholders to gain a deep understanding of local concerns and fulfil our regulatory commitments. We introduced Project Clover, an initiative to create a specially-designed protective environment for European TikTok user data. With Project Clover, we are designing and implementing a range of new measures to reinforce existing data protections, add new ones, and align our overall approach to data governance with the principle of European data sovereignty. Furthermore, in the U.S., we have established a dedicated division called TikTok U.S. Data Security (USDS) to strengthen our data protection policies and protocols, further protect our users, and build confidence in our systems, governance, and controls in the U.S.
We remain vigilant in our efforts to safeguard the platform from adversarial threats, including the presence of inauthentic or fake accounts and engagement. These threats persistently probe and attack our systems, leading to occasional fluctuations in the reported metrics within these areas. Despite this, we remain steadfast in our commitment to promptly identify and remove any accounts, content, or activities that seek to artificially boost popularity on our platform. As we navigate an ever-evolving threat landscape, TikTok remains dedicated to preserving the integrity of our community and strengthening our defenses against adversarial threats. We are committed to upholding the trust placed in us by our users and will continue to invest in robust measures that prioritize user safety, data protection, and regulatory compliance.
Spam and fake engagement
Ads
Advertiser accounts and ad content must comply with our Community Guidelines, Advertising Policies, and Terms of Service. TikTok has strict policies to protect our community from fake, fraudulent or misleading ad content. Ensuring the safety of advertisers and users is an ongoing commitment. While the second quarter of 2023 saw an increase in the total volume of ads removed both for violating our advertising policies, and due to account-level actions, we are continually reviewing and strengthening our systems to identify new patterns and quickly and accurately remove ads that violate our policies. For example, to more effectively moderate a recent rise in high risk gambling advertising on the platform, our teams deployed additional automated strategies to detect and manage ads violating our high risk industry-related policies. By upholding strict policies, leveraging advanced detection mechanisms, and continuously improving our systems, we strive to foster an advertising experience that is trustworthy, enjoyable, and aligned with the values of our vibrant TikTok community.
Yes
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