With a potential US ban looming, TikTok has announced that it has updated its Community Guidelines to include new provisions concerning synthetic media, hate speech, and election integrity efforts. These updates appear to better align with what US officials may prefer in terms of moderation, and TikTok notes that its Community Principles are based on its “commitment to uphold human rights and align with international legal frameworks.”
“To inform the most comprehensive updates to our Community Guidelines to date, we consulted more than 100 organizations around the world, including our US Content Advisory Council, and members of our community. Their input helped us strengthen our rules and respond to new threats and potential harms.”
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TikTok consulted with more than 100 organizations worldwide, including its US Content Advisory Council and members of its community, to inform the most comprehensive updates to its Community Guidelines to date. The main changes to TikTok’s policy are in the synthetic media section, which now clearly states that AI creations depicting realistic scenes must be labeled as such. TikTok’s synthetic media policy also states that AI depictions of private citizens are not allowed, while depictions of public figures are allowed so long as they are not used to endorse products or otherwise violate the platform’s policies.
“We welcome the creativity that new artificial intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies may unlock. However, AI can make it more difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction, carrying both societal and individual risks. Synthetic media or manipulated that shows realistic scenes must be clearly disclosed. This can be done through the use of a sticker or caption, such as ‘synthetic’, ‘fake’, ‘not real’, or ‘altered’.”
TikTok has added “tribe” as a protected attribute in its hate speech and hateful behavior policy, providing more culturally sensitive consideration, while also adding new, specific rules for protecting government and political party accounts and combating election misinformation.
In addition, TikTok has overhauled how it presents its rules, with sections now separated thematically into different topic areas. They also shared the four pillars of its moderation approach:
- Remove violative content
- Age-restrict mature content so it is only viewed by adults (18 years or older)
- Make content ineligible for recommendation in the For You feed that isn’t appropriate for a broad audience
- Empower our community with information tools and resources to stay in control of their experience
These updates are an effort to better integrate TikTok with US regulators, aligning with key pain points identified as concerns by US officials. The updates also further separate TikTok from the rules applied in the Chinese version of the app, Douyin, which should help to show that TikTok is a separate entity and is not dictated by Chinese management.
Overall, the new Community Guidelines are easier to understand, and while they may feel like a ploy to appeal to US officials, they are a good update that should help users better understand the platform’s rules. TikTok’s new Community Guidelines will take effect from April 21, 2023. The full updated Community Guidelines document can be found here.
