TikTok removed 4.9 crore videos violating the guidelines in the second half of 2019

TikTok released its transparency report on Friday. According to the report, the highest number of requests were sent to India for the removal of sensitive and objectionable content between July and December last year.

TikTok removed more than 49 million videos from its platform in just six months for violating the rules made for the content. However, it is not even 1% of the total videos made by its users.

Highest Number of Videos deleted from India: 1.65 crore videos

• The maximum number of video removed was 1.65 crores from India while around 46 lakh videos were deleted from the USA and with this, the USA stands on the second position.
• Pakistan took the third position with 37 million videos removed, the UK is at fourth position with 20 million videos removed and Russia bags fifth position with about 1.3 million videos removed.
• However, the report did not include China or Hong Kong in the list of countries seeking to remove information or content from the users.

India sent 302 requests, 90% processed

• During the second half of 2019, TikTok received 500 requests from law agencies and governments in 26 countries. India is the largest market for users in TikTok and has sent 302 requests. the company acted on 90% of the requests sent.
• The USA sent 100 requests and the company acted on 82% of them. TikTok received a total of 45 requests from governments around the world to remove sensitive content from its platform including 30 from India.

Thousands of videos are uploaded every minute

The report stated that thousands of videos are uploaded every minute from all corners of the world. To implement community guidelines, the company uses technology and content moderation combinations to identify the content is according to the guidelines. This system further removes the content that violates the guidelines given by the company.

Videos of Adult Nudity and Sexual Activities are removed

• TikTok said that they remove videos that fall under the category of Adult Nudity and Sexual Activities. Other videos removed by the company that violates its safety policy, depicting harmful, dangerous, or illegal behavior by users, such as alcohol or drug use. Other reasons to remove the videos include illegal activities, suicide, and self-harm.
• TikTok says that 3% of the content was removed under its harassment and bullying policy. The report noted that there is less than 1% of the content that violates the platform’s policies on hate speech, integrity, authenticity, and dangerous individuals and organizations.

The system deletes 98.2% sensitive videos

The report further includes that the system quickly captures the sensitive videos and 98.2% videos are deleted from the platform before the user reports it.

The government recently banned 59 apps

India recently banned 59 Chinese mobile apps including TikTok after escalating tensions between India and China in the Galvan Valley of Ladakh. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said that the government has repealed the relevant provisions under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act and IT Rules 2009. Initially, some apps voluntarily deleted themselves as per the government order, but now Google and Apple have blocked access to all the other apps. TikTok had 200 million users in India.