A leaked excerpt of TikTok moderation rules shows how political content gets buried
According to a whistleblower who spoke with Netzpolitik, controversial content on the app is divided into the categories of “deleted,” “visible to self” (meaning other users can’t see it), “not recommended,” and “not for feed.” Videos in these last two categories won’t be curated by the main TikTok discovery engine, and “not for feed” also makes a video harder to find in search.
According to the guidelines, most political content during election periods should be marked “not recommended.” Political content includes everything from partisan speeches to party banners. Police content—including filming inside a police station or jail—is marked “not for feed.”
The document also shows some changes that TikTok has made. Once, content about riots and protests—including reference to Tibet, Taiwan, Northern Ireland, and Tiananmen Square—would be marked “not recommended.” That category has now been replaced by a category covering content that might result in “real-world harm,” according to the guidelines. Moderators are told to mark this “not for feed.”