TikTok removing graphic clip circulating on its platform

TikTok removed a clip of a suicide circulating on its platform and banned accounts that were trying to upload clip

Popular short-video app TikTok said on Monday it was removing a clip of a suicide circulating on its platform and was banning accounts that were repeatedly trying to upload the clip.

We're aware that clips of a suicide that was livestreamed on Facebook have recently circulated on other platforms, including TikTok. Our systems have been automatically detecting and flagging these clips for violating our Community Guidelines.

— TikTokSupport (@TikTokSupport) September 7, 2020

We're removing content & banning accounts that repeatedly try to upload clips, and we appreciate our community members who’ve reported content & warned others against watching, engaging, or sharing such videos on any platform out of respect for the individual & their loved ones.

— TikTokSupport (@TikTokSupport) September 7, 2020

TikTok did not specify the video, but at least two media reports said that videos of a man shooting himself with a gun had been circulating on TikTok since Sunday night.

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“We’re aware that clips of a suicide that was live-streamed on Facebook have recently circulated on other platforms, including TikTok. Our systems have been automatically detecting and flagging these clips for violating our Community Guidelines,” TikTok said on Twitter.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a Reuters request to specify the video clip that is removed. Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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TikTok, whose China-based owner Bytedance has been ordered by President Donald Trump to sell its US operations, has been criticised for its content moderation policy in the past, especially on the circulation of graphic content.

The company rolled out a new content moderation infrastructure in December under which it labeled the videos that were removed by the company with the policy category they violated, it said in its transparency report published in July.