Chris Köver, Markus Reuter - in Öffentlichkeit - keine Ergänzungen
TikTok, the fast-growing social network from China, has used unusual measures to protect supposedly vulnerable users. The platform instructed its moderators to mark videos of people with disabilities and limit their reach. Queer and fat people also ended up on a list of „special users“ whose videos were regarded as a bullying risk by default and capped in their reach – regardless of the content.
Documents obtained by netzpolitik.org detail TikTok’s moderation guidelines. In addition we spoke with a source at TikTok who has knowledge of content moderation policies at the video-sharing platform.
The new revelations show how ByteDance, the Beijing-based Chinese technology company behind TikTok, deals with bullying on its platform – and the controversial measures it took against it.
Previously, we examined how TikTok limits reach for political content and how its moderation policies work. We also looked at how the service deals with criticism and competition.
Vulnerable only visible in home country
The relevant section in the moderation rules is called „Imagery depicting a subject highly vulnerable to cyberbullying“. In the explanations it says that this covers users who are „susceptible to harassment or cyberbullying based on their physical or mental condition“.
According to the memo, mobbing has negative consequences for those affected. Therefore, videos of such users should always be considered as a risk and their reach on the platform should be limited.
One source familiar with moderation reported that staff repeatedly pointed out the problems of this policy and asked for a more sensitive and meaningful policy.
However, their comments were dismissed by the Chinese decision-makers. The rules were mainly handed down from Beijing. This is largely in line with what the Washington Post learned from former TikTok employees in the USA.
TikTok is currently trying to make nice in Germany, the US and other markets where the app has grown rapidly.