Bytedance’s short video platform, TikTok, said it removed over 3.6 million videos posted by Nigerian users in the first quarter of 2025 for violating its content policy.
This marked a 50% increase in removals over the previous quarter, when 2.4 million videos from the country were removed for the same violation.
These figures were revealed in TikTok’s Q1 2025 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, underscoring the platform’s priority of creating a safe, respectful, and trustworthy digital environment.
The company said it recorded a proactive detection rate of 98.4%, which is content removed before it was reported to TikTok, and 92.1% of videos were removed within 24 hours.
In March 2025, TikTok also removed 129 accounts in West Africa tied to covert operations.
Global action
Globally, more than 211 million videos were removed in Q1 2025, up from 153 million in the previous quarter, with over 184 million removed through automation.
- The platform’s global proactive detection rate reached 99%, demonstrating continued improvements in identifying and removing harmful content quickly and effectively.
- On spam and fake engagements on the platform, TikTok said it removed a total of 44.7 million comments from fake accounts between January and March this year.
- In addition, it also removed 4.3 billion fake likes in the period under review. According to TikTok, the removed likes, followers, and follow requests were discovered to have come through ‘automated or inauthentic mechanisms’.
“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.
“Despite this, we are steadfast in our commitment to promptly identify and remove any accounts, content, or activities that seek to artificially boost popularity on our platform,” the company stated.
TikTok LIVE
While TikTok LIVE enables creators and viewers to connect, create, and build communities together in real-time, the platform has intensified its LIVE Monetization Guidelines, making it clearer how some content is not eligible for monetization.
LIVE content enforcement also remained a top priority. In the first quarter of 2025, TikTok banned 42,196 LIVE rooms and interrupted 48,156 streams in Nigeria that were found to violate the platform’s community guidelines.
Despite these high-volume interventions, harmful content still represents a very small portion of what users post. Globally, less than 1% of content uploaded to TikTok is found to violate its community guidelines.
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.
