Safety compliance: TikTok deletes more than 450,000 videos in Kenya

TikTok’s community guidelines range from dangerous or harmful content, harassment and bullying, nudity and sexual content, misinformation, and minor safety concerns, which require users to be 13 years or older to use the platform.

Notably, 92.1 percent of these videos were removed before they were viewed, and 94.3 percent were removed within 24 hours of being posted. 

Additionally, just over 43,000 accounts in Kenya were banned during the same period for violating community guidelines.

TikTok attributes the proactive detection rate now at 99 percent globally to integrating automated moderation technologies. 

While TikTok live streams enable creators and viewers to connect, create, and build communities together in real-time, the platform has intensified to clarify what content is or isn’t eligible for monetisation, including the live streams.

A total of 19 million live streams were stopped this quarter worldwide, a 50 percent increase from the previous quarter. 

TikTok’s content moderation report emanates from previous legislative action demanding its total ban from Kenya after appeals were filed in Parliament.

The petition was tabled in Parliament in August last year by Bob Ndolo, CEO of Bridge Connect consultancy, who urged MPs to impose a total ban on the social media platforms, saying they were being used to perpetuate violence and explicit sexual content, especially among the youth.  

The government had also previously demanded that TikTok show it is adhering to local privacy and user verification laws, as then Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the platform has been used to spread propaganda, carry out fraud, and distribute sexual content. 

In April 2024, TikTok’s content moderator Majorel Kenya Ltd, which is also a subsidiary of global business process outsourcing company Teleperformance, told a parliamentary committee that it was unable to moderate content in native and local dialects, that its AI could only pick what it detects, given its modelling.

At the time, there was a strong push to have TikTok completely banned from Kenya, a move later exacerbated by the 2024 Gen Z protests that were largely mobilised and fuelled online, on TikTok nonetheless. 

The proposal to ban TikTok was later quashed in September 2024 after the Committee on Public Petitions rejected the request.

“A total ban on TikTok is not tenable because it infringes upon fundamental rights and freedoms in the country. Further, a ban of the social media platform would stifle social and economic growth and the benefits of internet connectivity as the nation seeks to enhance its digital economy,” the committee’s report read in part. 

At a global level, TikTok has survived major blows ranging from proposed bans by the US government to a $10.91 million (Sh14.09 billion) fine by Italy's competition watchdog, fining three units of TikTok for inadequate checks on content potentially harmful to young or vulnerable users, in March 2024.