TikTok Releases Global Transparency Report for H1 2020

TikTok has released its global Transparency Report for the first half of 2020, providing insights into the actions taken to ensure the safety and well-being of its community. The report covers content removals, copyright infringement, law enforcement cooperation, and government agency interactions.

TikTok aims to build trust and accountability by being transparent with its community and has opened global Transparency and Accountability Centers for lawmakers and experts to witness how content is moderated and user safety is prioritized. The company has even made its source code available for testing and evaluation by experts at these centers.

The report highlights TikTok's efforts to promote safety and community on the platform. In the first half of 2020, TikTok expanded its Community Guidelines to counter misinformation and disinformation, introduced fact-checking programs to verify content related to the novel coronavirus and elections, and launched in-app educational PSAs on important topics such as COVID-19, elections, Black Lives Matter, and harmful conspiracies.

TikTok also introduced Family Pairing, a suite of youth safety features that allow parents and guardians to connect their TikTok account to their teens' accounts. This feature enables parents to guide the type of content available to their teens, promote healthy screen time habits, and choose appropriate message settings.

Furthermore, TikTok established partnerships with leading safety organizations such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and WePROTECT Global Alliance to enhance safety measures and protect users from potential risks.

In terms of Community Guidelines enforcement, TikTok experienced significant user growth in 2020, resulting in increased content removals. Globally, 104,543,719 videos were removed for violating Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, which accounted for less than 1% of all videos uploaded on TikTok. Impressively, 96.4% of these videos were removed proactively before being reported, and 90.3% were removed before receiving any views.

In the United States, 9,822,996 videos (9.4% of the total) were removed for violating guidelines. Specifically, 41,820 videos violated misinformation and disinformation policies, while 321,786 videos violated hate speech policies. TikTok took swift action, with 91.5% of violating videos being removed within 24 hours of upload.

Regarding legal requests, TikTok received 1,768 requests for user information from 42 countries/markets. Out of these requests, 290 (16.4%) came from US law enforcement agencies. TikTok carefully evaluated each request, including subpoenas, search warrants, court orders, and emergency disclosure requests. Additionally, 135 requests were received from government agencies to restrict or remove content, with 4 of those requests coming from US government agencies. TikTok also evaluated 10,625 copyrighted content takedown notices globally.

TikTok remains committed to transparency and accountability. The company strives to be the most transparent and accountable in the industry when it comes to user safety. TikTok is proud of the progress made in increasing visibility and aims to provide even more information in future reports. The company is working towards quarterly reporting to further enhance accountability to its community.

If you have any questions or feedback regarding TikTok's Transparency Report, you can reach out to transparency@tiktok.com.