Founded in 2016, TikTok is a global platform for creating and sharing short videos on the go, and is now available in over 150 markets, and in 75 languages. As a platform for fun and creative expression through short videos, TikTok is a widely popular app in Pakistan. It empowers anyone to be a creator directly from their smartphones, and is committed to building a community by encouraging users to share their creativity from their everyday moments in life through their videos.
While users enjoy creating content on TikTok, with it comes the responsibility to keep users safe on the platform. TikTok appreciates the unique culture of Pakistan, and the app experience is localized to suit the interests and trends reflected in the local society. TikTok deploys a combination of policies, technologies, and moderation strategies to detect and review problematic content, accounts, and implement appropriate penalties. It has a number of publicly available policies and resources for users and enforces a set of Community Guidelines and Terms of Service. In addition, it offers users a number of controls, tools and privacy settings.
TikTok takes its community guidelines very seriously and encourages its users to do the same. In fact, the Community Guidelines are available in Urdu on TikTok’s official website: https://support.tiktok.com/ur/privacy-safety/community-policy-ur. The community guidelines are designed to ensure users respect, not just the local laws and government policies, but also ensure an ethical and safe environment on the app.
Alongside TikTok’s very clear and detailed community guidelines, TikTok also encourages its users to report any content they deem harmful for the community. There is an in-app function that allows users to report any objectionable content or behavior for TikTok to action upon in a timely fashion. The mechanism of reporting harmful content has proven to be very effective globally for TikTok as it is more proactive and it also helps TikTok learn about the particular market. TikTok’s team on duty routinely handles user reports and acts on them based on TikTok’s community guidelines.
As an important part of the industry, like many social apps and platforms, TikTok has a broad set of safety features, such as Screen Time Management, which offers a way to give TikTok users the option to select from time limits of 40, 60, 90 or 120 minutes in terms of the time spent on the app per day. TikTok is committed to continuously enhancing their existing measures and introducing additional technical and moderation processes in their ongoing commitment to TikTok users.
