User opens TikTok on his iPhone in L’Aquila, Italy, on January 23, 2021. (Photo by … [+]
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TikTok joins the fight to limit misinformation online. The popular video app has announced that it will start burning untested content to users. While the app already removes certain videos with misleading information and has partnerships with intelligence review sites like PolitiFact, Top Stories, and SciVerify, this program will help fill in the gaps when intelligence reviews are not -determined or if content cannot be determined.
The feature includes one or two different alerts. Content viewers will be warned on some videos with unverified content that says, “Warning: video marked for unverified content.” The creator of the video will also be notified that a warning label has been added to their video along with more information about untested content on TikTok. Finally, if a viewer tries to share the video, they will get a pop-up that says, “Are you sure you want to share this video?” with “Cancel” and “Cancel” option.
“We are delighted that the creativity of our community encourages people to share TikTok videos with others who may like them – both within our platform and beyond away – but we’ve designed this feature to help our users be aware of what they’re sharing, ”said TikTok in a blogpost written by Gina Hernandez, Product Manager, Trust & Safety. “In fact, testing this approach saw viewers reduce their video sharing rate by 24%, and the likelihood of such unstable content decreased by 7%. ”
TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, will be rolling out the feature in the coming weeks across the globe.