TikTok announced that it had deleted more than 500,000 videos and closed 8,000 live broadcasts linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict, a few days after a warning from the EU which reminded it of its obligation to fight against illegal content.
On Thursday, Brussels warned the Chinese social network, very popular with young people, of its obligation to fight against “illegal content” and “false information”, in application of the new European digital regulation (DSA).
“You have a particular obligation to protect them from violent content (…) which seems to circulate widely on your platform without any particular security measures,” wrote the European Digital Commissioner, Thierry Breton in a letter to the boss of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew.
The European Commissioner has issued similar warnings to Meta, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube, as a torrent of violent content and conflict-related disinformation floods the platforms.
“More moderators speaking Arabic and Hebrew”
“We immediately mobilized significant resources” to implement our policies against violence, including “a command center bringing together key members of our global team of 40,000 security professionals,” explains TikTok.
“We have also evolved our proactive automated detection system in real time, as we identify new threats”, in order to “automatically detect and remove violent content”, adds the network, which has also “added more moderators speaking Arabic and Hebrew.
To combat misleading content, TikTok recalls working with fact-checking organizations, including AFP, in more than 50 languages, including Arabic and Hebrew.
“If fact-checking is inconclusive, we label the content as unverified, do not allow it in For You feeds, and urge people to reconsider before sharing.”
TikTok has also restricted the use of live broadcasts and certain hashtags.
The most talked about event in the world
Several social networks have already responded to the European Commission, including Meta and X.
X said he deleted or reported “tens of thousands of messages” but, judging his insufficient response, Brussels opened a “further investigation” against the Elon Musk network, said Thierry Breton in Paris on Monday.
The monitoring company Visibrain has counted 166 million messages related to the conflict on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok since October 7.
For comparison, this is 47% more than for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, one of the most talked about events in the world.