The content policies on TikTok have received some updates. Among the company's recent statements, we find that a great focus of said policies will be oriented towards the protection of the LGBTQ+ community; age-appropriate content; as well as attacking harmful behaviors in adolescents and the glorification of eating disorders in the social network.
This is announced by the company from its official website. Cormac Keenan, Head of Trust and Safety within TikTok, has confirmed the news that will be coming to the app standards shortly. Keenan assures that TikTok will be reinforcing its policies on dangerous acts and “challenges”; In addition, it ensures that they will cover more ground in their fight against content that promotes or glorifies eating disorders in people prone to suffering from them.
Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash
TikTok reinforces the protection of LGBTQ+ people
In the first place, the rules on hate ideologies will be clearer than before; this to avoid gray areas that can be exploited by users to share content that is harmful to historically marginalized communities. TikTok places a heavy emphasis on content that supports conversion therapy for people in the LGBTQ+ community. However, the company assures that this content has always been prohibited; but the lack of clarity in this regard has facilitated the publication of hateful content on the social network.
Likewise, the company now specifies within its policies that practices such as “ deadnaming” (intentionally calling a trans or non-binary person by their birth name) or “ misgendering ” (referring to a person with a gender with which they do not identify), as well as content that encourages or supports misogyny, conversion therapies and more, do not will be allowed.
In the words of Sarah Kate, CEO of TikTok, the company plans to “raise the level of LGBTQ+ safety online”; ensuring that this “sends a message for other platforms that claim to prioritize LGBTQ+ safety to follow suit with substantive actions like these.”
More emphasis on content appropriate for each age range
Credit: Unsplash One of the biggest changes coming to TikTok's policies is in age-appropriate content. The company is developing a new system to identify and restrict posts based on the user's age. In this way, the social network hopes to protect children and adolescents from content that may be harmful or irrelevant.
As detailed, community members will be able to choose “comfort zones” (content maturity levels) to customize what they want to see within the app. On the other hand, parents and guardians will be able to use the parental control function to limit the type of content that their minor children can access.
Content creators will also have an essential role in this section. TikTok will offer tools for creators to specify when their content is appropriate for a more mature audience. This is something that we have already seen on platforms such as YouTube, where it must be specified whether the content is aimed at adults or children.
“Our creators have told us directly that sometimes they want to reach only a specific older audience. So, for example, they may be creating a comedy with adult humor, or offering boring advice about the workplace that is just relevant to adults. Or maybe they talk about very difficult life experiences.”
Tracy Elizabeth, Head of Policy Affairs at TikTok US
TikTok wants to be the example to follow
TikTok is investing time and money in specialized and trained human force in areas like body positivity, inclusivity, civil rights and more. In this way, the company hopes to have a community of moderators who can make wiser decisions when content has been flagged as “infringing” the community guidelines.
Likewise, TikTok removed 1% of all videos uploaded in the third quarter of 2021; which translates into about 91 million videos. Many of them were removed from the platform before they received views.
Of course, the more content that is published within the platform, the more difficult it will be to properly moderate and sanction it. However, it is good to know that TikTok is taking action, and that the most important social network today among children, adolescents and young adults is focused on creating a safer community for everybody.
