Over 7.2 million (7,263,952) TikTok accounts have been removed after they were suspected to be those of underage users. This means that the full TikTok experience has been taken away from those potentially under the age of 13, which is less than 1% of all accounts on TikTok.
However, in the US, people aged 12 and under are allowed to have an account in TikTok for Younger Users, which was created with “additional safeguards and privacy protections designed especially for this audience.”
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In TikTok’s Transparency Report for January to March 2021, it said that a total of 11,149,514 accounts were removed for violating their Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.
“In order to promote a safe and welcoming environment, we work to uphold our Community Guidelines by removing accounts and content that don’t adhere to our policies,” the report said.
“We strive to be transparent about how we enforce our policies to continue building trust with our community members. We regularly publish these reports with that aim in mind.”
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Additionally, in January 2021, TikTok introduced a new default privacy setting for teenagers. Those aged 13 to 15 would automatically have their account set to private, with their videos being restricted for download.
“This is a meaningful step towards driving higher default standards of privacy and safety for minors. And, these updates built upon previous age-restricted TikTok features, including direct messaging, live stream, and virtual gifting, all of which aren’t available to accounts under 16 or 18, respectively,” the report said.
“Our goal is to help people make informed choices about what and with whom they choose to share, and by engaging teens early in their privacy journey, we hope to empower them to carefully manage and shape their online presence.”
The report also mentioned that in the first quarter of 2021, a total of 61,951,327 videos were removed globally for violating Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.
- 91.3% of videos were identified and removed before a user reported them
- 81.8% before they received any views
- 93.1% within 24 hours of being posted
“We continue to rely on technology to detect and automatically remove violating content in some markets. Of the total videos removed globally, 8,832,345 were flagged and removed automatically for violating our Community Guidelines.”
You can read the full report here.
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