Just last year, TikTok adopted a two-tier moderation system that offers preferential treatment to its most popular users, according to Forbes . The outlet obtained a recording of the September 2021 meeting, and the company detailed an internal feature called “Creator Tags” reserved for accounts with more than 5 million followers. When moderating these users, many of them influencers and celebrities, TikTok reportedly filtered them through a separate moderation queue that saw the company treat the accounts differently.
“We don’t want to treat these users as, well, like any other account. According to Forbes, TikTok Trust & Safety “I’d say be lenient,” said one of the employees during the meeting. The company states on its website that its community guidelines apply to “everyone and everything on TikTok.”
TikTok did not immediately respond to Engadget’s request for comment. A spokesperson for the company told Forbes that it “is not lenient in moderating accounts with more than 5 million followers” and said Added that it does not have a moderation queue based on the number of followers.
If the report is accurate, TikTok would not be the first company to discriminate between its most influential and powerful users. In 2021, the Wall Street Journal detailed how Meta’s XCheck system allowed millions of high-profile Facebook and Instagram users to circumvent its rules. In one incident described in the report, the system ” Blocked” Facebook moderators from removing a nude photo of a woman who accused him of sexual assault posted by Brazilian soccer star Neymar. The post had more than 60 million views before Meta took action. Also, the company did not block Nyemar , despite sharing non-consensual nudity in violation of the Community Guidelines.
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