TikTok Looks To Prevent The Spread Of Dangerous Challenges, Hoaxes By Improving Policies

TikTok is working to limit the proliferation of deadly challenges and hoaxes on its platform. To that end, they intend to enhance its content regulation policies and seek the assistance of content providers.

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According to CNN, the social media business is enacting new regulations that expressly target any information “encouraging” self-harm, disordered eating, or prominent figure frauds.

Corman Keenan, the social media platform’s head of trust and safety, announced the implementation of a new policy category named “Dangerous Acts and Challenges.” This one is primarily intended at content which will “promote” any thought of self-harm. They’re urging content makers to help spread the news by using the hashtag #SaferTogether.

TikTok is also trying to restrict films that encourage unrealistic diets, which can lead to devastating eating disorders, in the case of disordered eating content. There are also new restrictions in place to prohibit films that include deadnaming, misogyny, misgendering, and even conversion therapy.

TikTok’s head of US safety, Eric Han, stated that the company’s teams of moderators are “working extremely aggressively” to minimize the spread of such bad content on their site. For example, entering terms that TikTok believes may relate to a harmful “challenge” (such as the potentially catastrophic “Dry Scooping” fad) will not return any results.

These efforts stem from an announcement TikTok made late last year, in which they pledged to work on deleting dangerous “challenges” on the site before they spread, as reported by the BBC.

They made the news after it was determined that one in every 50 teens participated in harmful TikTok tasks, and one in every 300 participated in a possibly lethal challenge.

Teenage girl phone

TikTok’s Tendency To Be A Hotbed Of Dangerous, Misleading Content

One might probably be pardoned if they despise TikTok, owing to how hazardous and misleading any trends that emerge from there are.

Among the most recent phenomena to emerge from the platform are frauds concerning the deaths of notable personalities, which have recently gone viral. A suitable example would be Queen Elizabeth II’s supposed “hidden death.”

queen elizabeth II

According to Slate, the hoax spreading on TikTok (and Twitter) claims that the Queen is already dead and that her recent annual Christmas broadcast video was created using deepfake technology.

There was even a “National Rape Day,” which was promoted through a viral video. According to NBC Right Now, the frightening “party” was marketed with the hashtag #April24. TikTok quickly removed it, claiming that the trend is repulsive and a flagrant violation of the platform’s community guidelines.

Aside from that, the platform is a breeding ground for some of the worst health trends imaginable.

Some of its content makers have been known to publish videos of “health tips” that are more harmful than beneficial, such as removing your own moles at home, drinking chlorophyll water, or even pushing garlic bulbs up your nose to relieve stuffiness.

TikTok has a long way to go when it comes to eliminating or stopping the spread of heinous content.

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