TikTok has unveiled its approach to protect election integrity on the platform ahead of a series of elections around the world, including in Pakistan, this year.
More than 50 countries are going to have polls in 2024. With advanced artificial intelligence (AI) developments and the rise in misinformation and disinformation, several leading social media platforms have shared their approaches to managing online content in the wake of electoral events.
In a comprehensive statement, TikTok has outlined its strategy to combat misinformation and prevent the popular short-video platform from being weaponised in the polls the world over. The statement is available in both English and Urdu, with TikTok reiterating its commitment to ensure safety, creativity, and civility in what it calls “a historic elections year”.
TikTok says it collaborates with electoral commissions and fact-checking outlets to build “Election Centers” that connect its users to reliable electoral information. The company claims its local Election Centers reached more than 55 million people around the world in 2023. The statement also highlights TikTok’s partnership with creators and civil society organisations to promote media literacy.
“Throughout 2024, we’ll continue to partner with experts and fact-checking organizations around the world to deliver engaging media literacy campaigns about misinformation, identifying AI-generated content, and more,” says TikTok.
The firm’s approach to upholding and protecting the integrity of elections comprises four main objectives: countering misinformation, preventing covert influence operations, combating misleading AI-generated material, and a tailored approach to political and news accounts.
“We partner with 17 global fact-checking organizations, who assess the accuracy of content in over 50 languages so that our moderators can apply our misinformation policies accordingly,” says TikTok. “We added three new global fact-checking partners in 2023, and will continue to expand our fact-checking program this year.”
TikTok is aware that malicious and deceptive actors try to target online platforms during elections, and it remains “vigilant” against surreptitious attempts to exert influence on people. “We have dedicated experts working to detect, disrupt, and stay ahead of deceptive behaviors. We report the removals of covert influence networks in our quarterly Community Guidelines Enforcement Reports.”
TikTok will release more reports on covert influence operations to increase transparency and accountability with the industry.
“AI-generated content (AIGC) brings new challenges around misinformation in our industry, which we’ve proactively addressed with firm rules and new technologies,” the platform says. “We don’t allow manipulated content that could be misleading, including AIGC of public figures if it depicts them endorsing a political view.”
TikTok prohibits paid political advertising, it says, barring accounts belonging to politicians and political parties from making profits on the platform. “We also recognize that accounts belonging to news organizations, politicians, political parties and governments play a unique role in civic discourse, and apply more nuanced account enforcement policies to protect the public interest, which we explain in our Community Guidelines.”
