Bytedance’s short video platform, TikTok, said it removed 2.4 million videos posted by Nigerian users in the fourth quarter of 2024 for violating its content policy.
According to the platform, Nigeria was among the top 50 countries where videos violating its policies emanated from in Q4.
However, the highest number of violations were recorded in the United States, which has the largest number of videos removed at 8.5 million.
TikTok disclosed this in its latest Community Guidelines Enforcement report, which indicated that a total of 153 million videos were removed globally in the period under review.
The company said the top 50 markets in terms of policy violations accounted for approximately 90% of all content removals for the quarter.
The removed content was said to have violated one or more of TikTok’s policies, which center around Integrity and Authenticity, Privacy and Security, Mental and Behavioural Health, Safety, and Civility, among others.
Accounts removal
In the period under review, TikTok said it removed a total of 211.5 million accounts discovered to be either fake or owned by people suspected to be under 13 years of age.
- Fake accounts constituted the largest number of deleted accounts for the period. According to the report, a total of 185.3 million fake accounts were removed.
- In addition, 20.5 million accounts suspected to be owned by users under the age of 13 were removed, while 5.6 million accounts were removed for other reasons not stated.
“We remain vigilant in our efforts to detect external threats and safeguard the platform from fake accounts and engagement.
“These threats persistently probe and attack our systems, leading to occasional fluctuations in the reported metrics within these areas.
“In Q4 2024, we also updated the way we classify fake likes and followers removed over time, which contributed to some of the overall increases observed in these categories.
“This update better reflects the scale of our existing work to promptly identify and remove any accounts, content, or activities that seek to artificially boost popularity on our platform,” the company stated in the report.
What you should know
Despite all its enforcement actions, TikTok has been facing challenges from different countries arising from the usage and the kinds of content on the platform.
- In October last year, 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits accusing the social media giant of failing to protect young users from harm.
- The lawsuits, filed separately in New York, California, Washington D.C., and 11 other states, allege that TikTok’s platform is designed to be addictive, exploiting children’s vulnerability to boost profits.
- The lawsuits intensify TikTok’s ongoing legal battle with U.S. regulators, with the plaintiffs seeking financial penalties and increased accountability for the Chinese-owned company.
- According to the states, TikTok’s software is intentionally designed to keep users, particularly children, engaged for extended periods, raising concerns about mental health and the efficacy of its content moderation efforts.
