Following the release of a report that detailed the pervasive spread of misinformation on TikTok, the company has announced policy changes.
Key Details
- TikTok announced that it will begin testing new policies for political accounts on the video sharing social media platform.
- The new policies include mandatory verification of official accounts and prohibiting monetization or campaign funding.
- “By prohibiting campaign fundraising and limiting access to our monetization features and verifying accounts, we’re aiming to strike a balance between enabling people to discuss the issues that are relevant to their lives while also protecting the creative, entertaining platform that our community wants,” says President of Global Business Solutions Blake Chandlee in a statement.
Why it’s news
TikTok’s policy changes come shortly after reliability rating platform NewsGuard released a report detailing the extensive spread of misinformation on the social media platform.
The investigation revealed that approximately 20% of search results contained inaccurate information.
Though misinformation on social-media platforms is already a concern, it is especially worrying on TikTok as Google CEO Sundar Pichai says that the search engine is in competition with TikTok. More young people are using the social media site as a search engine.
Worries about TikTok continue to grow as recent reports from Forbes have also found that hundreds of TikTok and ByteDance employees are connected with the Chinese state media.
In June, a BuzzFeed news report claimed that U.S. user data was repeatedly being accessed in China.
In an apparent attempt to smooth things over with U.S. officials, TikTok has increased focus on hiring U.S. based employees, but high-level U.S. employees appear to be fleeing the company.
As apparent concerns increase, however, U.S. officials are nearing an agreement with TikTok. If the agreement is finalized, TikTok will be more closely monitored by U.S. based companies and will be required to store all U.S. data at Texas-based company Oracle.