TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance and known for dance videos and comedy skits will begin verifying accounts of U.S. government departments, politicians and political parties, and will ban campaign fundraising videos.
TikTok and other social media platforms have been criticized for years for allowing such content to flourish on their platforms, prompting TikTok to ban political advertising in 2019. TikTok has also come under fire from U.S. lawmakers who have questioned the app’s data security.
TikTok said in a blog post that political accounts can seek verification which will give a blue check mark on TikTok, and the company will also work to verify accuracy and confirm ownership of accounts it believes belong to politicians or political parties and will automatically prohibit them from using advertising features.
TikTok also announced that it would update its rules to restrict political donations and make it harder for politicians and political parties to access fundraising features available to app influencers, such as digital payments and gifts.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.