• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 15, 2023

TikTok is the latest technology company to counter misinformation after the European Union began taking action last week, alerting the CEOs of YouTube, Meta, and X of violations. 

“Following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel, we have indications that TikTok is being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation in the EU,” European Union Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote in a letter to TikTok.

The CEOs of YouTube, Meta, and X received similar letters last week from Breton, requesting them to remove misinformation.

The letter received by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew on Friday warned the company to "protect children and teenagers from violent content and terrorist propaganda, as well as death challenges and potentially life-threatening content."

Breton asked TikTok to “urgently step up” efforts and ensure that the systems are effective. The request required TikTok to provide a response within 24 hours.

TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, said in a blog post on Saturday it had removed content in violation and accounts, and listed the actions it took to combat misinformation and hateful content.

“Since the brutal attack on October 7, we've continued working diligently to remove content that violates our guidelines,” the company said. “To-date, we've removed over 500,000 videos and closed 8,000 livestreams in the impacted region for violating our guidelines.”

The company also took action to create a command center that it said “brings together key members of its 40,000- global team of safety professionals, representing a range of expertise and regional perspectives, so that we remain agile in how we take action to respond to this fast-evolving crisis.”

Moderators who speak Arabic and Hebrew were added to review content, opt-in screens over content that could be perceived as shocking or graphic were added, and temporary changes to policies that govern TikTok features were made to prevent them from being used for hateful or violent behavior in the region.

TikTok also updated its automated detection systems to identify new threats in real-time. This enables TikTok to automatically detect and remove graphic and violent content so moderators and community members are not exposed.

An existing set of controls and features are available for the community of TikTok users, and the company encourages everyone to consider using them.

The features include a “Not Interested” tab on a tab for content they wish to see less often, and a “Refresh” tab if they want to restart their feed.

If the “Restricted Mode” is enabled, it helps to limit the appearance of content that may not be appropriate for a general audience and filters content with warning labels.

Meta introduced a content-monitoring plan in response to the war between Israeli and Hamas on Friday, and removed more than 795,000 pieces of content that violated several policies.

Next month, Meta takes the chair position of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT)’s Operating Board.

GIFCT is an NGO that brings together technology companies to tackle terrorist content online through research, technical collaboration and knowledge sharing.