Forwarded from BlackBox (Security) Archiv
TikTok: Cheerfulness and censorship
Never before has a #platform grown as fast as TikTok. We have gained exclusive insight into its content moderation and are publishing excerpts from its moderation rules: TikTok operates a sophisticated system to identify, #control, #suppress and direct content. The platform can throttle videos of #protests and #demonstrations according to its rules.
No #app has been downloaded as often as TikTok in the past year. The video sharing platform is growing rapidly. In November 2019, TikTok broke the 1 billion-user barrier – faster than any other social network ever before. The video app and its culture are currently so popular with children and young people that even the Tagesschau (the major German public TV News programme) now has its own account there.
However, #research by netzpolitik.org shows that TikTok is currently able to #suppress videos of political protests and demonstrations and additionally determine which content is visible, through a variety of means.
☣️ Exclusive insight into content moderation
For this research, netzpolitik.org spoke to a source at #TikTok, looked at moderation criteria and communications, and experimented with specially created accounts to see how well videos with China-critical content are visible on the platform.
TikToks moderation rules, of which netzpolitik.org was able to see different versions, are remarkably thin and widely interpretable – even for the moderators themselves. The strategy, however, is clear: certain content is given the widest possible reach, while others are systematically suppressed.
The successful platform belongs to the #Chinese #technology company #ByteDance. Already in September, the Guardian reported on leaked documents that detailed how TikTok censored political statements on the #Tiananmen #massacre or the independence of #Tibet. The protests in Hong Kong, which are currently attracting worldwide media attention, are virtually invisible on TikTok between selfies and singalongs, even though the app is available in Hong Kong.
Read more:
https://netzpolitik.org/2019/cheerfulness-and-censorship/
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_ES
Never before has a #platform grown as fast as TikTok. We have gained exclusive insight into its content moderation and are publishing excerpts from its moderation rules: TikTok operates a sophisticated system to identify, #control, #suppress and direct content. The platform can throttle videos of #protests and #demonstrations according to its rules.
No #app has been downloaded as often as TikTok in the past year. The video sharing platform is growing rapidly. In November 2019, TikTok broke the 1 billion-user barrier – faster than any other social network ever before. The video app and its culture are currently so popular with children and young people that even the Tagesschau (the major German public TV News programme) now has its own account there.
However, #research by netzpolitik.org shows that TikTok is currently able to #suppress videos of political protests and demonstrations and additionally determine which content is visible, through a variety of means.
☣️ Exclusive insight into content moderation
For this research, netzpolitik.org spoke to a source at #TikTok, looked at moderation criteria and communications, and experimented with specially created accounts to see how well videos with China-critical content are visible on the platform.
TikToks moderation rules, of which netzpolitik.org was able to see different versions, are remarkably thin and widely interpretable – even for the moderators themselves. The strategy, however, is clear: certain content is given the widest possible reach, while others are systematically suppressed.
The successful platform belongs to the #Chinese #technology company #ByteDance. Already in September, the Guardian reported on leaked documents that detailed how TikTok censored political statements on the #Tiananmen #massacre or the independence of #Tibet. The protests in Hong Kong, which are currently attracting worldwide media attention, are virtually invisible on TikTok between selfies and singalongs, even though the app is available in Hong Kong.
Read more:
https://netzpolitik.org/2019/cheerfulness-and-censorship/
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_DE
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_EN
📡@cRyPtHoN_INFOSEC_ES