Eric Han, TikTok’s head of U.S. safety, This is what we have revealed in a lengthy blog article on the company’s official website what he describes as the company’s “commitment to election integrity”Through a variety of initiatives.
“At TikTok, we take our responsibility to protect the integrity of our platform — particularly around elections — with the utmost seriousness,”Han wrote. “We’re proud to be a place that brings people together over creative and entertaining content, and we work hard to keep harmful misinformation and other violations of our policies off our platform. As the US midterm elections continue, we’re sharing more on the work we’re doing to protect our community during this time.”
The keystone of this initiative will be “Elections Center,”This partnership aims to connect users with various resources, including signing them up for the vote. Restore Your Vote, Campus Vote Project, and the Federal Voting Assistance Program are some of their other partners.
Also, this section of the app is “feature videos that encourage our community to think critically about content they see online, as well as information about voting in the election.”Han stresses that users who submit information will be directed to the correct website. TikTok will also assist them. “not have access to any of that off-platform data or activity.”
TikTok will be available as well “be adding labels to content identified as being related to the 2022 midterm elections as well as content from accounts belonging to governments, politicians, and political parties in the US.”Through hashtags, users can filter out the content they would like to be seen. “We’ll also provide access on popular elections hashtags, like #elections2022 and #midtermelections, so that anyone searching for that content will be able to easily access the center,”Han wrote.
What’s more, under the section “enforcing policies,”Han states “TikTok has a longstanding policy to not allow paid political advertising, and our Community Guidelines prohibit content including election misinformation, harassment – including that directed towards election workers – hateful behavior, and violent extremism. To enforce our policies, we use a combination of people and technology. We also review content and accounts reported by community members. To bolster our response to emerging threats, TikTok partners with independent intelligence firms and regularly engages with others across the industry, civil society organizations, and other experts.”
The company has partnered with “accredited fact-checking organizations who help assess the accuracy of content in more than 30 languages, and while they do not moderate content on our platform, their assessments provide valuable input which helps us take the appropriate action in line with our policies.
Out of an abundance of caution, while content is being fact checked or when content can’t be substantiated through fact-checking, it becomes ineligible for recommendation into For You feeds. We also inform viewers of unsubstantiated content and prompt them to reconsider before sharing potential misleading information.”
Han further states that the company is “building on lessons learned,”I specifically mention the chaotic 2020 election cycle, which is a far cry from 2016’s. “We’re already meeting one of them by launching our in-app center 6 weeks earlier than in 2020 to capture more of the midterms conversation over the summer months,”Han writes.
