TikTok Under Fire After
Suppressing Videos of Those
‘Susceptible to Bullying’.
TikTok recently admitted
to suppressing the reach of
content created by individuals
they deemed “vulnerable.”.
This includes people with disabilities
such as Down syndrome and autism,
as well as people with facial disfigurement. .
Users who categorize themselves as “fat and self-confident”
or LGBTQ were also found to have suppressed content. .
As reported by Netzpolitik, TikTok instructed
their moderators to add flags to accounts they
believed were “susceptible to bullying.”.
These flags prevented a user’s content from
being viewed outside of their own country,
as well as from appearing in other users’ feeds. .
According to a TikTok representative, the flagging
system was created with good intentions but was
never intended to be a “long-term solution.”.
While the intention was good, the
approach was wrong and we have long
since changed the earlier policy in
favor of more nuanced anti-bullying
policies and in-app protections, TikTok, via Netzpolitik .
Despite their statement, the rules defining
this content suppression system were still
in place as recently as September 2019.