September 24 () –
TikTok has announced the removal of accounts linked to Russian media outlets for allegedly participating in “covert influence operations” ahead of the 2024 US presidential election, in which the leading candidates are the current vice president, Kamala Harris, and former president Donald Trump.
The company said in a statement that the accounts were “associated with Rossiya Segodnya and TV Novosti” and stressed that these activities “violate community standards.” “Previously, these accounts were restricted in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom,” it said.
“Globally, under our state-affiliated media policy, their content was also not available on the For You channel to limit attempts to influence foreign audiences on topics of global events and affairs, and their accounts were labelled as state-controlled media to provide important context about the source of the content,” it explained.
He also stressed that the deleted accounts will be revealed in the report that he will publish this month on “covert influence operations”, while he estimated that around 7,800 accounts associated with networks have been deactivated by the platform to date.
“Elections are important times of conversation in the community. During this time, we continue to work to keep people safe and protect the integrity of the TikTok platform for the more than 170 million members of our community in the United States,” he said.
In this regard, the platform has argued that it has “experts” in “democracy, elections, civil society, security and technology” who work “tirelessly” to “stay ahead of threats.” “We do this by applying robust policies aimed at preventing the spread of disinformation, raising relevant electoral information and collaborating with internal and external experts who help us constantly evaluate and improve our position,” it concluded.
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