TikTok removed more than 104M videos in the first half of the year
Many of the deleted videos violated the app's policies related to nudity, minor safety and illegal activity.
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TikTok removed more than 104 million videos from its platform during the first half of 2020, according to the company's latest transparency report, released Tuesday. TikTok said that's less than 1% of all videos uploaded to the popular app between Jan. 1 and June 30. The update comes as TikTok's fate in the US remains in jeopardy, pending the finalization of a complicated deal for Oracle and Walmart to acquire stakes in the app's US operations.
Of the videos that were removed, TikTok said 30.9% violated the company's policies on adult nudity and sexual activities, 22.3% violated rules related to minor safety and 19.6% violated its policies on illegal activities and regulated goods. The company also said it had to rely more heavily on technology due to the coronavirus pandemic, noting that it detected and automatically removed more than 10 million videos that violated the app's policies. The largest number of videos were removed from India, the US, Pakistan, Brazil and the UK.
TikTok added that it found and removed 96.4% of videos that violated its community guidelines before they were reported by a user and that 90.3% were removed before receiving any views.
The company also said Tuesday that it proposed a global coalition to combat harmful content. Under the proposal, social media companies would be encouraged to warn each other about violent and graphic content on their own platforms.
Owned by Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok has been caught in the crosshairs of a geopolitical clash between the US and China. The US Department of Commerce had threatened to bar new downloads of TikTok last week, with officials saying the app poses a threat to national security. The potential ban was pushed back after President Donald Trump approved a deal "in concept" over the weekend between TikTok, Oracle and Walmart. The parties now have until late Sunday to finalize an agreement that satisfies the US.
