In the aftermath of an investigation from The Observer that revealed how DanceByte’s popular TikTok short-form video app is promoting misogynistic content to young people despite claiming to ban it, it appears that TikTok is rolling out some changes.
The investigation focused on the videos of online personality Andrew Tate, who has been criticized, most notably by domestic abuse campaigners, for normalizing extreme and outdated views about women, and how TikTok pushed those videos within their algorithm to other users via the curated For You page.
The rise of Tate, who has become one of the most viewed and following TikTok content creators, has opened a can of worms into the kind of content that is not only allowed on TikTok, but somehow promoted.
The Guardian reported that they created a fresh account on TikTok, built for a teenage male, only to find that they’d been “flooded” with video recommendations around the controversial content of Tate, which seem to be in clear violation of TikTok guidelines.
TikTok has confirmed that they will be addressing the issues: “Misogyny and other hateful ideologies and behaviors are not tolerated on TikTok, and we are working to review this content and take action against violations of our guidelines,” they told The Guardian. “We continually look to strengthen our policies and enforcement strategies, including adding more safeguards to our recommendation system.”
