Community guidelines: TikTok removes 2 million videos in Nigeria in Q3 2024

David Afolayan
TikTok said 99.1% of the said videos were removed within 24 hours of posting
#SaferTogether: All that happened at TikTok’s safety summit in Nairobi
Creators playing a puzzle game with “TikTok, We are Safer Together” as the eventual block.

TikTok has announced that it removed over 2 million video content posted by users in Nigeria between July and September 2024. According to the popular social media platform, this action is in line with its community guidelines and reaffirms its dedication to online safety.

According to its Community Guidelines Enforcement Report for Q3 2024, which provides an account of the platform’s proactive approach to content moderation, TikTok indicated that 99.1% of the said videos were removed within 24 hours of posting.

The report also highlighted TikTok’s leadership in content moderation and safety standards, ensuring a secure and positive platform experience for Nigerian users. 

With over a billion people around the world, using the platform and millions of pieces of content posted every day, TikTok continues to invest in technologies which improve content understanding and assess potential risks, allowing the platform to remove harmful content before it reaches viewers.

With a proactive detection rate now at 98.2% globally, TikTok is more efficient than ever at addressing harmful content before users encounter it. Globally, between July and September 2024, the platform removed over 147 million videos and of these, 118 million were removed through automation.

In Nigeria, 92.1% of all videos were removed before a community member reported it to TikTok. This is a significant improvement from the 80% rate in 2024 and 62% the year before.

Community guidelines: TikTok removes 2 million videos in Nigeria in Q3 2024
Highest policy violations in Nigeria

The report also shows that in Nigeria, the policy areas which saw the most videos removed were:

  • Mental and Behavioral Health, with 99.9% of removals happening before any user report. This reflects TikTok’s commitment to protecting its users, especially younger audiences, from content that could negatively affect mental health.
  • Sensitive and Mature Themes, with 99.4% of removals happening before any user report
  • Regulated Goods and Commercial Activities, with 99.1% of removals happening before any user report. This includes content such as attempts to defraud or scam members of the community or content that seeks to trade or market things such as firearms or explosive weapons, to name a few examples.

Recall that in TikTok’s Q2 2024 Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, the company indicated that over 2.1 million videos were removed from the platform in Nigeria. This is less than 1% of the total videos uploaded in the country.

In November 2022, TikTok launched its #SaferTogether campaign in Nigeria, the first in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the event, the company also announced a partnership with the Data Scientists Network (DSN) to support its awareness programme.

TikTok launches Safety Advisory Council for Sub-Saharan Africa in Nairobi

Through the partnership, DSN conducted in-community workshops with parents, teachers, and guardians in schools in Abuja and Lagos, educating and empowering them to understand the digital world and how they can help young people stay safe online.

In the Community Guidelines Enforcement Report, the company also pledged its commitment to strengthening content moderation systems to safeguard its diverse community. 

“As TikTok continues to invest in cutting-edge moderation technologies, its commitment to transparency and platform safety remains at the forefront, ensuring a secure environment for its diverse user base across Nigeria and globally”, the report reads.

In June 2024, the platform removed over 178 million videos globally. Of these, 144 million were removed through automation. These technical advancements reduce the volume of content that moderators review, helping alleviate human exposure to violent videos.

TikTok’s content moderation: Like Nigeria, Like. Kenya

TikTok indicated that it removed over 360,000 video content uploaded by users in Kenya in Q2, 2024. According to the platform, the removed content constitutes 0.3 % of the total volume of videos uploaded in the country within the period.

#SaferTogether: All that happened at TikTok’s safety summit in Nairobi
L-R: Flirty Carlos (artist & Creator), Sphokuhle Kagiso (South African Creator), Sean MMG (artist & creator) and Eddie Butita (Actor & creator). dancing at a TikTok event in Nairobi

“Key findings show that 99.1% of these videos were proactively removed before users reported them, with 95% taken down within 24 hours,” the report reveals.

TikTok highlighted its commitment to age guidelines and securing a moderate community for its users. During this period, about 60,000 accounts were banned. Out of this 57,262 were suspected to be of under 13 users.

The ByteDance subsidiary company added that with over a million contents posted by its billion users, investing in advanced technology is the only way to curb potential risks. “With a proactive detection rate now at 98.2% globally, TikTok is more efficient than ever at addressing harmful content before users encounter it.”


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