The news
TikTok is removing more videos in Kenya for violating community guidelines as the company seeks to avoid government oversight of content moderation.
According to its recently released second quarter enforcement report, TikTok removed 360,000 videos in Kenya in the three months to June. In Kenya, 296,000 videos were removed in all of 2023. The videos removed in the three-month period accounted for 0.3% of videos uploaded in Kenya in that quarter.
The platform was forced by the Kenyan government in April to share quarterly compliance reports as it faced a petition threatening to have it banned in the country.
The spread of sexual content, particularly on TikTok in Kenya, has fueled the push for stricter moderation. Videos depicting ethnic incitement and violence are also often removed for violating guidelines.
Know more
TikTok’s enforcement report further revealed that the platform has banned nearly 60,000 accounts in Kenya for violating various community guidelines, with many suspected of joining users under the age of 13. It says that 99.1% of videos were removed in April, May and June. in Kenya were removed before users reported them.
The platform has credited its investments in technology with enabling greater automated detection of malicious content, which it uses in conjunction with human moderators. The Bytedance-owned platform said it removed more than 178 million videos worldwide in June alone, 144 million of which were removed through automation.
In August, TikTok established an advisory board with experts from across the continent to help inform policy and improve content moderation.
Step back
The number of videos taken down last year was revealed by Fortune Sibanda, director of the platform, when he appeared before the Kenyan parliament earlier this year at the height of the petition to ban TikTok in Kenya. The failed petition sought to shut down the platform due to the spread of explicit, harmful and violent content in the country.
However, the country’s Ministry of Technology told parliament that it preferred better regulation of the platform rather than a ban.
