Over the last year, alongside others in the tech industry and representatives from civil society, TikTok have collaborated with the Web Foundation, an international organization advocating for digital equality, to better understand the experiences that women have online and how to make them safer. As a result, they are proud to announce the commitment to address two priorities women have said are critical for their online safety: improved reporting systems and more control over their online experiences.
Over the coming months, TikTok will begin to develop and test a number of potential product changes to their platform that address these priorities and help make TikTok an ever safer place for women.
TikTok, work round the clock to help ensure our platform is a safe, positive space for self-expression. Our platform thrives on the diversity of our community, and we believe that safety is a prerequisite for creativity. Everything we do is about fostering an environment where people feel welcomed, empowered, and safe to express themselves exactly as they are.
Their online safety strategy has multiple aspects. Enforce the Community Guidelines using both technology and thousands of safety professionals around the world. They also develop pioneering safety policies and features, and partner with external safety experts to keep abreast of complex and constantly evolving challenges.
While TikTok continue to invest in cutting-edge technologies and industry-leading safety teams, they also work to ensure their community feels in control of their TikTok experience. Here are just a few examples on how to stay safe on TikTok:
- In control of comments: Their community can restrict who comments on their videos to no one, just friends or everyone (for those aged under 16, they don’t offer the Everyone setting). Users can choose to filter all comments, so they can decide which comments will appear on their videos. When enabled, comments aren’t displayed unless the video’s creator approves them using the new comment management tool. People can also choose to filter comments containing specific keywords they have selected. Multiple comments can be deleted or reported at once, and accounts that post bullying or other negative comments can be blocked in bulk, too, up to 100 at a time. By default, spam and offensive comments are hidden from users when we detect them.
- Promote kindness: A prompt asks people to reconsider the impact of their words before posting a comment that may be inappropriate or unkind and reminds users to review our Community Guidelines.
- Report inappropriate content and behavior: Reporting is fast, easy and confidential on TikTok. If a user sees something – whether it’s a video, a comment, a direct message or an account – they don’t think should be on TikTok, they can use the in-app reporting button to let us know. We will review against our Community Guidelines and take appropriate action.
In addition to investing in technology to keep their community safe, TikTok work to provide resources to their community on important issues like sexual assault. During Sexual Assault Awareness Month they partnered with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) to support the important conversations occurring on the platform about sexual violence and connect their community with permanent resources and educational content within the app. Their goal at TikTok is to foster an inclusive space for everyone, including survivors.
“We look forward to sharing more on our progress to deliver on our commitment to improve online safety for women in the coming months”, said TikTok team.