In continuation of our series on fast-rising app TikTok, we've seen many concerns arise about the rising social platform. Something TikTok has taken into consideration by trying to refine its content policies.

What's the Story?

TikTok, the 15-second video-sharing app, created by China's ByteDance, has seen a rise in concerns about the way it displays – and limits – some of the content users post on its platform.

With the app garnering over 1 billion downloads this year, it is only natural that marketers begin to shift their attention to the fast-growing app and its audiences, seeking to leverage the app and promote content there.

However, TikTok has made some content and policy moderations that have not gone well with marketers and users alike. For starters, in a bid to reduce cyberbullying, TikTok limited the reach of content uploaded by users who had disabilities.

Now while their intention may have been pure, the move seems misguided. According to Netzpolitik, which first acquired the documentation for this incident, TikTok moderators were asked to flag content uploaded by users who may have disabilities like autism, Down's syndrome or facial disfigurements. After that, these users' content was distributed "to small audience subsets," explains Social Media Today.

While the intention was to protect these users, which were deemed "susceptible to harassment or cyberbullying based on their physical or mental condition," it seems that the policy backfired.

TikTok's Response

Meanwhile, TikTok responded by confirming that the policy was indeed put into effect at some point, noting that the policy came as a response to a rise bullying within its app. However, TikTok has said that policy has been removed.

"Early on, in response to an increase in bullying on the app, we implemented a blunt and temporary policy," TikTok said in an e-mailed statement to Newsweek, adding that it has updated its policy and that this measure was "never designed to be a long-term solution."

Netzpolitik also reported that the policy to reduce reach was applied to videos uploaded by users who appeared to be "self-confident and overweight, or homosexual." The policy was applied until September 2019.

"While the intention was good, it became clear that the approach was wrong," TikTok admitted. "We want TikTok to be a space where everyone can safely and freely express themselves, and we have long since changed the policy in favor of more nuanced anti-bullying policies."

The China Issue

Having a Chinese mother company, TikTok has been under scrutiny for some time because of its China ties and the restrictions imposed by Chinese regulators, along with possible political affiliations.

In late November, Business Insider reported that TikTok had suspended a 17-year-old's account after the teen posted videos condemning China's oppression of Uighur Muslims. Afterwards, TikTok apologized for this and re-activated the teen's account and denied other news reports that it was censoring controversial content, or rather content that criticizes the Chinese government.

Moreover, Australia's Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) recently released a new report that noted that TikTok was being used to 'advance Beijing's political agenda'.

Having issues and concerns about political affiliations and privacy is a battle every social media platform goes through. Take Facebook for example, which has appeared in the media and in court more than any other social platform. However, concerns about TikTok have increased lately as the platform maintains a kind of vagueness to its documentation.