TikTok will offer softer moderation to the most popular accounts

Does TikTok have two-speed moderation? It is reported by Forbes magazine. Unfortunately, this will not come as a surprise.

TikTok used a two-tier moderation system last year that favored the most popular users, according to a Forbes report. The magazine received an audio recording of a meeting from September 2021, in which the company details an internal feature dubbed “creator labels”that is reserved for accounts with more than 5 million followers. When it comes to moderating these users, most often influencers and celebrities, TikTok puts them in a separate queue for moderation, which sees the company treat these accounts differently than regular people.

Does TikTok have two-speed moderation?

“We don’t want to treat these users like… any other account. I’d say there’s a bit more leniency here,”a TikTok trust and safety officer said during the meeting, again according to Forbes. However, the company states on its website that its community rules “apply to all users and everything they share on TikTok.”

It is reported by Forbes magazine.

TikTok didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, but a spokesperson for the company told Forbes it wasn’t more lenient in moderating accounts with more than five million followers, adding that it wasn’t.

Unfortunately, this will not come as a surprise.

If the report is correct, TikTok won’t be the first company to treat its most influential and powerful users differently. In 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported how the Meta XCheck system allowed millions of valuable Facebook and Instagram profiles to bypass current rules. In one of the incidents described in the article, the system blocked Facebook moderators from deleting nude photos of a woman posted by Neymar who accused the Brazilian star of sexual harassment. The post was viewed over 60 million times before the Meta took action. Moreover, the company did not block Neymar’s account, although he shared an inconsistent nude image in violation of current standards.