Automated Censorship? TikTok Removed Over 14m Videos In Pakistan 

These videos were removed for violating the platform's community guidelines between April-June 2023

Automated Censorship? TikTok Removed Over 14m Videos In Pakistan 

Popular social media platform TikTok removed over 14 million videos posted on its network in Pakistan in the second quarter of 2023 for violating its community guidelines.

In a statement issued by TikTok, it released its latest Community Guidelines Enforcement Report for the second quarter of 2023, April-June 2023. TikTok said that during this period, some 106,476,032 videos were removed globally, which accounts for approximately 0.7% of all videos uploaded to TikTok in this period. 

In Pakistan, 14,141,581 videos were removed. They accounted for 13.28% of all videos taken down globally. TikTok said that it removed 83.6% of the violative videos in Pakistan before anyone could view them.

"Approximately 92.5% of such videos were eliminated within a day," it said, adding that the proactive removal rate for Q2 2023 stood at 98.6%. The social network clarified that it uses innovative technology and human review to identify, assess, and take action against content violating its community guidelines. 

TikTok said that it proactively targeted spam accounts and associated content while taking preventive measures to curb the creation of automated spam accounts.

Globally, TikTok also removed 18,823,040 accounts suspected of belonging to users under 13 years of age, prioritising the safety of young users. 

TikTok said its community guidelines are designed to foster a safe, inclusive, and authentic user experience. These policies apply to everyone and all types of content, with TikTok striving to ensure consistency and equity in their enforcement.

The quarterly release of the community guidelines enforcement report, it said, aims to provide insights into the volume and nature of removed content and accounts, ensuring transparency.