TikTok is actively working on decreasing the amount of misinformation on its platform. With an average of around a billion active users daily, its regulation of the sharing of content has been a top priority for the platform. The spread of information is paramount to the credibility and continuous use of the company.
The existence of news-sharing brings with it a danger of false news being spread along with it, but TikTok, like all other social media platforms, has been doing its best to counter this internet-wide pandemic. But, of course, this isn't a new problem, either, for social media and the short-video platform itself. TikTok has previously fought back against misinformation over the years. They've employed a list of techniques to combat this issue, and recently they've improved them. Previously, videos with false information would stay on the platform for days before being removed. In 2019, TikTok employed thousands of people to scour flagged videos for anything that violated community guidelines. This included nudity or sexual content, violence, radicalism, and misinformation. The people hired for this job did well, but the number of users on the platform grew, and the quantity of false information also did.
TikTok has implemented many changes to improve the security of its users. From increasing the efficiency of the algorithms used to review posts to TikTok's parent-sharing feature, the platform has added many improvements to maintain safety. Machine-learning algorithms detect common audios and visuals that can mislead, and the employment of other fact-checking organizations that work in over 30 languages are new additions. TikTok also records past false claims, and if their AI and machine-learning programs detect these, the videos are reviewed by fact-checkers and removed.
How Can Misinformation Be Fought?
These additions allow the company's proactive solutions to keep up with the ever-evolving state of the platform, and the layered process ensures that the number of videos wrongly removed is reduced. While some misinformation remains, the number of false claims and radical messages can be lessened considerably. TikTok's audience is global, and the variety of languages within their fact-checking systems can maintain safety across a wider span of viewers than ever before.
Spotify added an advisory warning to Joe Rogan's podcast when the public called for his podcast to be removed after it aired misinformation. The problem isn't solved, and misinformation will continue to be a concern on the internet, but with efforts like those that TikTok implemented across multiple platforms, the fake news being spread online will be reduced, along with the harm that it can bring. Of course, TikTok isn't the only platform fighting misinformation. Other sites have been moving towards stemming the flow of false information for years, and the safety of the internet is better for it.
Source: TikTok