TikTok removes 380,000 videos in US for violating hate speech policy

Short video app TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, has removed more than 380,000 videos and banned more than 1,300 accounts for hateful content

A review by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this month said the platform was being used to spread white supremacist and anti-Semitic hate speech

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TikTok said it has removed more than 380,000 videos in the United States for violating its hate speech policy so far this year. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:01am, 21 Aug 2020Updated: 10:01am, 21 Aug 2020

TikTok has removed more than 380,000 videos in the United States for violating its hate speech policy so far this year, the short-form video app said on Thursday.

The app, owned by China’s ByteDance, also said it banned more than 1,300 accounts for posting hateful content.

TikTok said in a blog post that it had acted on content such as race-based harassment and that it also had a zero-tolerance policy on organised hate groups and on content that denied “violent tragedies” like the Holocaust or slavery.

The app, which is hugely popular among teenagers, is best known for dance and lip-synching routines and viral challenges, but a review by the Anti-Defamation League earlier this month said that the platform was being used to spread white supremacist and anti-Semitic hate speech.

TikTok, which has been under scrutiny over its content moderation practices, in March named the initial members of a content advisory council to give advice on its policies and evaluate the company’s actions.

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