TikTok staff instructed not to report Amazon account issues

Exclusive: Internal messages indicate video platform safeguarding its lucrative ties with e-commerce company.

Internal communications reviewed by The Guardian reveal that TikTok employees were instructed to refrain from reporting potential issues on Amazon accounts in order to preserve the video platform’s profitable commercial partnership with the e-commerce multinational.

During the autumn, certain moderators were instructed not to take adverse actions regarding a list of over 60 Amazon-related accounts on TikTok, citing the U.S. company’s substantial advertising presence on the platform. As per communications observed by The Guardian, employees responsible for reviewing TikTok videos and ensuring compliance with content guidelines were advised against removing the accounts or applying any “tags.” Applying tags could potentially result in the removal of an account or its exclusion from the For You Page.

TikTok asserted that this was not an official company policy.

A spokesperson stated, “These allegations about TikTok’s policies are incorrect or based on misunderstandings.”

TikTok’s community guidelines emphasize that “our approach to content moderation uses the same criteria, no matter who creates it.”

For months, The Guardian has been conducting an investigation into how TikTok moderates its app. The Chinese-owned platform boasts over a billion users globally and has emerged as a significant influence across various domains, including politics, news consumption among Gen Z, and culture. It has rapidly become the UK’s fastest-growing source of news, with about a third of adults aged 18 to 29 in the US reporting regular news consumption on TikTok.

The Guardian uncovered that moderation teams tasked with overseeing thousands of daily posts, primarily from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, were being instructed to show preferential treatment to specific creators and accounts, seemingly deviating from TikTok’s official guidelines.

Exchanges on Lark, TikTok’s internal messaging system, outlined the rationale for exempting Amazon. These communications appear to emphasize the significance of Amazon as the platform’s top advertising spender and express a desire to safeguard that relationship.

The directive concerning Amazon originated from a team lead, acting as a liaison for moderators and managing a team of them. This message was transmitted within a chat where a site lead, a senior staff member responsible for overseeing the entire site, was present. The Guardian has not come across any evidence indicating that these messages were subsequently retracted by senior staff members.

Additional internal communications, as observed by The Guardian, indicate the existence of several other undisclosed companies on a safeguarded list. Allegations suggest that the inclusion of these companies on the list has made some moderators generally cautious about tagging other major corporate accounts or companies of comparable size, out of concern for not adhering to unofficial internal guidance.

This message was highlighted to a group comprising dozens of moderators, team leaders, and site managers, functioning to disseminate policy updates and distribute information on moderation to moderators responsible for overseeing TikTok across Europe.

A TikTok staff member remarked, “The message is saying do not moderate Amazon accounts, and then there is a list of Amazon accounts.” Internal messages viewed by The Guardian imply that the directive was issued in response to instances where a “wrong decision” was made regarding videos from these Amazon accounts.

Moderators were instructed not to ban or tag specific Amazon accounts, including the official accounts for Amazon’s Prime Video service, boasting 418.2 million likes and regularly featuring clips from films, celebrity interviews, and trailers. Other exempted accounts encompass those for Amazon Music, Twitch (its video game streaming service), and the Audible audiobook service.

The Amazon-controlled accounts additionally encompass the official TikTok account for the IMDb film database, accumulating more than 45 million likes. In total, there are approximately 60 accounts.

A TikTok spokesperson responded, stating, “These allegations about TikTok’s policies are incorrect or based on misunderstandings, while the Guardian has not given us enough information about their other claims to investigate. Our community guidelines apply equally to all content on TikTok.”

TikTok asserts it employs 6,000 moderators in Europe and has a global safety workforce of 40,000 individuals.

Moderators refer to a comprehensive platform called Opus to comprehend TikTok’s policy violations. Opus serves as a vast repository housing the platform’s policy frameworks and operational guidelines, aiding moderators internally in identifying videos that potentially breach these rules by applying appropriate policy tags.

The internal policy catalog, accessible solely to the platform’s team, provides guidelines for brief videos covering topics like “promotion of tobacco,” “high-risk dangerous driving,” “suspected underaged user,” “negative stereotype of a protected group,” “violent fighting in a news or fictional setting/violent fighting in a professional setting,” and “dangerous misinformation.”

According to an industry source in advertising, discussions regarding granting preferential treatment to major spending clients on social media are commonplace and generally expected. The source added, “Big spending advertisers will want any concern with their content expedited to human moderators quickly.”

Imran Ahmed, the CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate campaign group, expressed concern, stating that favoring the speech of certain users over others is “fundamentally unfair.” He believes that the selective enforcement of rules by these platforms undermines public discourse by providing an unjust advantage to some individuals or entities.

He remarked, “It seems these decisions have been taken behind closed doors with no oversight or transparency – which allows abuses of power and can lead to decisions taken against the public interest.”

Amazon consistently emerges as the largest spender on digital advertising in the US, with an expenditure of $1.4 billion (£1.1 billion) in 2022, as reported by the market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

While TikTok’s community guidelines specify distinct enforcement for governments, politicians, and news accounts to align with human rights and freedom of expression commitments, they maintain that such entities are treated like any other account, and any violations are removed.

TikTok’s community guidelines do not explicitly state whether companies and those in financial partnerships with the platform are exempt from these guidelines. However, all TikTok advertisers are obligated to adhere to its terms of service, community guidelines, and all associated policies.