TikTok removes millions of suspected underage accounts

TikTok has removed over 7.2 million accounts it suspects belonged to users under the age of 13, as part of its guidelines enforcement on its app.

The social media giant revealed the number in its Community Guidelines Enforcement Report for Q1 2021.

TikTok is available to children aged 13 and over.

“To bring more visibility to the actions we take to protect minors, in this report we added the number of accounts removed from the full TikTok experience for potentially belonging to an underage person,” Head of Safety for TikTok US, Eric Han, said in a statement.

In total, the company removed 11.1 million accounts for violating its guidelines. It said the total accounted for less than 1% of all app accounts.

Other TikTok account enforcement statistics

The report includes several other statistics about actions taking against accounts, content, and advertising.

In addition to the accounts removed, TikTok also blocked 71.5 million accounts created using automated means.

During Q1 2021, TikTok removed 61.95 million videos for violating its Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. That number accounts for less than 1% of all videos uploaded on the app.

Meanwhile, 8.5 million videos removed originated in the United States. Pakistan and Brazil followed with over six million videos each.

The company added that 82% of the videos were removed before anyone viewed them. In addition, 91% of the videos were removed before any users filed reports on them while 93% were removed less than 24 hours after they were posted.

TikTok also rejected 1.9 million ads for violating its advertising guidelines and policies.

Featured image: Unsplash/Franck

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