Government Removal Requests Report
January 1, 2022 – June 30, 2022
Published November 29, 2022
About this report
TikTok is fueled by the creativity of our community, and we work to enable and protect authentic self-expression and entertainment. However, in some cases we will remove or restrict content reported by government agencies. We honour requests made to us through the proper channels and where otherwise required by law. When we receive such requests from governments, we review and take action upon content in line with our Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, and applicable law. If we believe a request doesn’t violate our standards laid out in our Community Guidelines but violates applicable law, we may restrict the availability of the reported content in the country where it is considered to be illegal. If we believe that a request isn’t legally valid or does not violate our Community Guidelines, Terms of Service or applicable law, we will reject the request.
The sections below provide insight into the volume of government removal or restriction requests we receive and the nature of TikTok’s response.
Analysis
A greater number of markets have made removal requests compared to our last report period. Easing of COVID-19 restrictions in some markets saw request volumes decrease, while other markets experiencing conflict saw an increase in their removal request submissions.
Latest data
DownloadGovernment requests to remove or restrict content or accounts
NOTE: In March 2022, TikTok suspended livestreaming and new content to our video service in Russia. Therefore, the vast majority of Russian government removal requests we received during this reporting period were related to pre-war content and accounts. TikTok did not receive requests to remove or restrict content or accounts from governments in countries/markets other than those included above.
Terminology
- Total requests received: Government requests to remove or restrict content or accounts, including requests with inaccurate URLs.
- Total content received: Valid content URLs requested, excluding any acceptable form of an account (i.e. URLs, UIDs, and usernames). We review all content requests for inaccurate URLs, duplicate requests, requests routed to different channels, and requests submitted with insufficient information to determine validity.
- Content actioned due to Community Guidelines violations: Valid content URLs reviewed and actioned upon for violating our Community Guidelines.
- Content actioned due to (local) law violations: All valid content URLs reviewed and actioned upon due to a violation of local law.
- Content not actioned: Valid content URLs reviewed and deemed not to violate TikTok’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, and/or local law.
- Total accounts received: Valid account URLs and any other acceptable form of an account (i.e. UIDs, usernames, etc.) requested. We review all content requests for inaccurate URLs, duplicate requests, requests routed to different channels, and requests submitted with insufficient information to determine validity.
- Accounts actioned due to Community Guidelines Violations: Valid account URLs reviewed and actioned due to Community Guidelines violation.
- Accounts actioned due to (local) law violations: Valid account URLs reviewed and actioned due to a violation of local law.
- Accounts not actioned: Valid account URLs reviewed and deemed not to violate TikTok’s Community Guidelines and/or local law.
- Removal rate: Rate at which TikTok removed or restricted content or accounts in response to government demands.
Yes
No