TikTok announced that it has deleted 29,000 coronavirus-related videos in Europe due to violations of the platform rules.
According to TikTok, it does not tolerate misinformation that will produce a negative impact on people's health.
TikTok, which allows users to post short video clips, said that 3,000 of the 29,000 clips contains medical misinformation.
A banner with the line ”’Learn the facts about Covid-19″ appears on TikTok videos that are about the coronavirus. These range from those with words, hashtags or music related to the ongoing health crisis.
The banner directs users to credible sources of information on Covid-19. TikTok noted taht the banner had appeared on over seven million videos in Europe.
“Based on our analysis, our overall conclusion is that we have seen low levels of content that violated our Community Guidelines related to Covid-19 in Europe,” wrote Theo Bertram, TikTok’s European director of government relations and public policy in a blog post.
Bertram added: “The total number of videos related to Covid-19 and the total number that violated our policies grew to a peak in March 2020, declining in April 2020, and falling significantly during May and June 2020.”
Chris Stokel-Walker, internet culture writer and author of the book “YouTubers,” said during an interview with CNBC that he was not surprised with the figures.
“The app is a huge video platform,” he said. “We know that pre-pandemic, at least 27 million videos were uploaded a day, and third-party data indicates that it’s only become more popular during lockdown.”
He pointed out that the Chinese-owned app had a “very strong” A.I. and human moderation department which could delete videos before they anyone can see them.
“Like many other platforms at present recognizes the need to provide factual information about something that’s literally a life and death situation, and conversely, not to spread disinformation about it,” he said.
In the second half of 2019, TikTok deleted a total of 49 million videos, based on its second transparency report. The main reason for removal was “adult nudity and sexual activities,” with one in four of the deleted videos gone in December.
Meanwhile, less than 1% of videos shown on the platform have been deleted due to content violations.
TikTok issues
Recently, TikTok has been involved in issues regarding its owner.
TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer was accused of being an “American puppet” for working for a Chinese-owned social media app by White House trade advisor Peter Navarro.
ByteDance appointed former Disney executive, Kevin Mayer, as TikTok CEO earlier this year. His goal was to reinstill trust with regulators.
Navarro tagged Mayer as an “American puppet,” claiming that the strategy of putting a US citizen as head of the company is “not going to work.”
“If TikTok, if it separates as an American company, that doesn’t help us because … we’re going to have to give China billions of dollars for the privilege of having TikTok operate on US soil,” Navarro said.
Moreover, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US government plans to ban TikTok because it is deemed a security threat.
He said the company is sharing users’ information with the Chinese government. Fox’s Laura Ingraham asked him if he would recommend people to download the app. “Only if you want your private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
“What the American people have to understand is all the data that goes into those mobile apps that kids have so much fun with and seem so convenient, it goes right to servers in China, right to the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party, and the agencies that want to steal our intellectual property,” Navarro said.
