TikTok Says Removing Graphic Clip Circulating on Its Platform

TikTok rolled out a new content moderation infrastructure in December under which it labeled the videos that were removed by the company

By Reuters | Updated: 8 September 2020 14:12 IST

TikTok Says Removing Graphic Clip Circulating on Its Platform

At least two media reports said that videos had been circulating on TikTok since Sunday night

Highlights

TikTok been criticised for its content moderation policy in the past
TikTok has been criticised especially on circulation of graphic content
TikTok labelled the videos that were removed by the company

Popular short-video app TikTok said on Monday it was removing a clip of a suicide circulating on its platform and was banning accounts that were repeatedly trying to upload the clip.

TikTok did not specify the video, but at least two media reports said that videos had been circulating on TikTok since Sunday night.

"We're aware that clips of a suicide that was livestreamed on Facebook have recently circulated on other platforms, including TikTok. Our systems have been automatically detecting and flagging these clips for violating our Community Guidelines," TikTok said on Twitter.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

TikTok did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to specify the video clip that it removed. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. TikTok, whose China-based owner ByteDance has been ordered by President Donald Trump to sell its US operations, has been criticised for its content moderation policy in the past, especially on circulation of graphic content.

The company rolled out a new content moderation infrastructure in December under which it labelled the videos that were removed by the company with the policy category they violated, it said in its transparency report published in July.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

TikTok Says Removed Over 49 Million Videos in Second Half of 2019

Is Android One holding back Nokia smartphones in India? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.