TikTok Will Limit ‘Unsubstantiated’ Posts About Midterms in Effort to Tackle ‘Election Misinformation’

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TikTok has announced a plan for how it will deal with “election misinformation” ahead of the midterms elections.

In a Wednesday blog post by Eric Han, the company’s Head of U.S. Safety, it was revealed the social media platform will be labeling content related to the midterms and also limiting political posts that cannot be substantiated through their system in an effort to keep only “authentic content” on the controversial platform.

In a section discussing “enforcing” the company’s policies, Han writes that content that is in the process of being fact-checked or is not able to be substantiated will not be able to make its way to “For You” feeds. Users trying to share unsubstantiated posts will be informed they are doing so and shown a message asking if they are sure they want to post that content.

“Out of an abundance of caution, while content is being fact checked or when content can’t be substantiated through fact-checking, it becomes ineligible for recommendation into For You feeds. We also inform viewers of unsubstantiated content and prompt them to reconsider before sharing potential misleading information,” the blog post reads.

TikTok does not allow paid political ads on its platforms and if they discover any through users, they will remove the posts.

“TikTok does not allow paid political ads, and that includes content influencers are paid to create,” the post reads.

Other steps taken by TikTok to battle what they deem “election misinformation” includes the creation of an Elections Center, which will provide information on various elections.

“For instance, people can learn how and where to vote through information provided by the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and who and what is on their ballot from Ballotpedia,” Han wrote.

Content related to the midterm elections will include labels that can take users to this Elections Center.