While the geopolitical context is particularly tense in Europe, TikTok has announced the addition of a label on videos posted by certain state-owned media. The app further promised to do more to combat misinformation.
Labels for state-owned media
” The war in Ukraine is devastating, and our hearts break for all who are suffering. It has also caused our community and our people to suffer. And as a platform, this war has challenged us to face a complex and rapidly changing environment, as we seek to be a canvas, a window and a bridge for people around the world. With the safety of our staff and our community being our priority, we have dedicated significant resources to developing and implementing new protective measures “, explains the Chinese company in a blog post.
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Thus, she decided to introduce labels on videos coming from media linked to a state, a measure on which she has been working since last year, she explains. ” Over the past few months, we have engaged more than 50 experts from multidisciplinary backgrounds in 20 countries to define state-controlled media, that is, entities over which a government exercises direct control. or indirect on editorial content or decision-making, and to define our approach to these designations “, assures TikTok. Platform users around the world should start seeing these labels appear in the coming days.
This approach, which allows add context to content “, is not new on social networks. It was introduced on YouTube in 2018, then on Twitter and Facebook in 2020.
TikTok is aligning itself with other social networks in response to the dispute. Photography: Aaron Weiss/Unsplash
TikTok wants to fight misinformation more
TikTok has often been criticized for the proliferation of false information on its platform. Now, the app announces that it is taking concrete steps to combat misinformation using ” a combination of technologies and people to protect our platform “, while his teams” speak more than 60 languages and dialects, including Russian and Ukrainian “.
In addition, TikTok explains that it has evolved its ” real-time methods to identify and combat harmful content, such as implementing additional measures to help detect and act on livestreams that may contain unoriginal or misleading content “.
TikTok restricts its activities in Russia
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict is also played out online. While Russian news outlets RT and Sputnik are being removed from social media in Europe, Russia has simply decided to block Facebook and restrict Twitter. The entire tech sector is affected by this war: Oracle, Intel, Apple, Google, Airbnb, Microsoft and AMD have thus decided to suspend their activities in Russia.
For its part, TikTok has also taken a step in this direction following the new law introduced by the Kremlin and imposing fifteen years of imprisonment on persons or entities broadcasting ” fake news about the war in Ukraine. ” We have no choice but to suspend live streaming and new content from our video service in Russia while we review the security implications of this law. Our in-app messaging service will not be affected. We will continue to assess the evolving situation in Russia to determine when we can fully resume our services, with security being our top priority. “says the social network.