TikTok Deletes 1.7 Million Nigerian User Videos In Q4 2023 For Policy Violations

TikTok, the short video social media platform owned by Bytedance, said that it has deleted 1.7 million recordings from Nigerian users during the fourth quarter of 2023.

Explaining reasons for the action via its Community Guidelines Enforcement report, the platform said Nigeria was among the top 50 countries where videos violating its policies emanated from in Q4.

The company said 176.5 million videos were removed globally in total for the period under review, adding that the top 50 markets which violated its policies accounted for approximately 90% of all content removals for the quarter.

The removed videos were said to have violated one or more TikTok’s policies bordering on integrity and authenticity, privacy and security, mental and behavioural health, safety, and civility, among others.

In the period under review, TikTok said it removed a total of 169 million accounts discovered to be spam or fake.

According to Tiktok, “From October 7 through to the end of 2023, we removed more than 169 million fake accounts globally, and we have removed about 1.2 million bot comments on content tagged with hashtags related to the Israel-Hamas war.

“We remain vigilant in our efforts to detect external threats and safeguard the platform from fake accounts and engagement. These threats persistently probe and attack our systems, leading to occasional fluctuations in the reported metrics within these areas.

“Despite this, we are steadfast in our commitment to promptly identify and remove any accounts, content, or activities that seek to artificially boost popularity on our platform. During the fourth quarter of 2023, we saw an increase in some of our fake engagement metrics.”.

The company said it also removed a total of 1.03 billion likes from videos. Other actions taken by the social media platform included the removal of 720 million fake followers and 4.9 billion fake follow requests.

According to TikTok, the removed likes, followers, and follow requests were discovered to have come through ‘automated or inauthentic mechanisms’.

During the fourth quarter of 2023, TikTok said there was an increase in the volume of ads removed for violating its advertising policies and a decrease in the volume of ads removed due to account-level actions. The report shows that a total of 1.5 million ads were removed in Q4 2023 for violating its ads policies, an increase from 1.3 million recorded in Q3.

“We are continually reviewing and strengthening our systems to identify new patterns and quickly and accurately remove ads that violate our policies. By upholding strict policies, leveraging advanced detection mechanisms, and continuously improving our systems, we strive to foster an advertising experience that is trustworthy, enjoyable, and aligned with the values of our vibrant TikTok community,” the company added.