TikTok will remove videos of President Trump’s speech inciting supporters to mob the US Capitol on Wednesday, saying they violate the company’s misinformation policy. TikTok will still let people post “counter speech” videos that dispute incorrect claims, however, and will let videos remain on the platform if they condemn violence or if they’re posted by news organizations. TechCrunch was the first to report the news.
“Hateful behavior and violence have no place on TikTok,” the company said in a statement. “Content or accounts that seek to incite, glorify, or promote violence violate our Community Guidelines and will be removed.”
TikTok is also blocking certain hashtags related to the riots, such as #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty, like it did with other hashtags that represented election-related conspiracy theories in November. If you try to search for one of these blocked hashtags, you’ll see a page that says the hashtag “may be associated with behavior or content that violates our guidelines.”
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22221052/IMG_0144.jpg)
TikTok joins other social media platforms in restricting some content about Wednesday’s riots. Facebook committed to removing content supporting the storming of the Capitol or encouraged Wednesday’s events, among other measures in a blog that it posted Wednesday evening. The company went a step further by banning Trump’s account “indefinitely” on Thursday morning.
Twitter said it was taking action against tweets that violated its rules and that it was “significantly restricting engagement with Tweets labeled under our Civic Integrity Policy due to the risk of violence.” The company placed a temporary lock on Trump’s account on Wednesday evening and has threatened a permanent suspension if he violates its rules again. Trump returned to Twitter Thursday evening, promising a smooth transition of power to the Biden administration.
