21 votes

Internal TikTok policies instructed moderators to suppress videos featuring unattractive, disabled, or poor people so they wouldn't scare off new users, as well as to remove specific types of content

4 comments

  1. kfwyre
    Link
    In case anyone needs perspective on the app's reach (since I'd imagine many of us here are outside their target audience), TikTok is pretty much the main social media app that my students use now.

    In case anyone needs perspective on the app's reach (since I'd imagine many of us here are outside their target audience), TikTok is pretty much the main social media app that my students use now.

    8 votes
  2. NaraVara
    Link
    Does anyone know the legal implications of this? Like, being in China how bound is TikTok by accessibility guidelines in the US? At the very least, suppression of speech by the disabled would run...

    Does anyone know the legal implications of this? Like, being in China how bound is TikTok by accessibility guidelines in the US? At the very least, suppression of speech by the disabled would run afoul of the ADA I would think.

    6 votes
  3. [2]
    Grzmot
    Link
    Isn't this old news? I feel like this has been known for quite some time now.

    Isn't this old news? I feel like this has been known for quite some time now.

    2 votes
    1. Deimos
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      You could actually read the article, which was published late last night, instead of rushing to make a dismissive comment as quickly as possible based solely on the title. There's a decent amount...

      You could actually read the article, which was published late last night, instead of rushing to make a dismissive comment as quickly as possible based solely on the title. There's a decent amount of new information in here, including the internal documents themselves:

      These previously unreported Chinese policy documents, along with conversations with multiple sources directly familiar with TikTok’s censorship activities, provide new details about the company’s efforts to enforce rigid constraints across its reported 800 million or so monthly users while it simultaneously attempts to bolster its image as a global paragon of self-expression and anything-goes creativity.

      15 votes