TikTok Under Fire After<br />Suppressing Videos of Those<br />‘Susceptible to Bullying’.<br />TikTok recently admitted<br />to suppressing the reach of<br />content created by individuals<br />they deemed “vulnerable.”.<br />This includes people with disabilities<br />such as Down syndrome and autism,<br />as well as people with facial disfigurement. .<br />Users who categorize themselves as “fat and self-confident”<br />or LGBTQ were also found to have suppressed content. .<br />As reported by Netzpolitik, TikTok instructed<br />their moderators to add flags to accounts they<br />believed were “susceptible to bullying.”.<br />These flags prevented a user’s content from<br />being viewed outside of their own country,<br />as well as from appearing in other users’ feeds. .<br />According to a TikTok representative, the flagging<br />system was created with good intentions but was<br />never intended to be a “long-term solution.”.<br />While the intention was good, the<br />approach was wrong and we have long<br />since changed the earlier policy in<br />favor of more nuanced anti-bullying<br />policies and in-app protections, TikTok, via Netzpolitik .<br />Despite their statement, the rules defining<br />this content suppression system were still<br />in place as recently as September 2019.
