As misinformation grows, TikTok ramps up removal of fake accounts

TikTok continues to combat growing concerns around the prevalence of misinformation on the platform by assuring us that it's fighting the good fight.

According to a new report, TikTok is the fastest growing news source in the UK, with seven percent of people over the age of 18 getting their news from the platform. Additionally, young people are increasingly using the app as a search engine instead of traditional sites like Google. But the latest research report from Newsguard has revealed that 20 percent of search results on TikTok for timely news topics make false and misleading claims.

However, data released by the platform today (Sept. 28) shows that TikTok's biggest improvement in enforcing community guidelines, which includes the spread of "harmful misinformation," has been in removing fake accounts. In the past quarter, from April 1 to June 30 of this year, TikTok has removed over 33 million accounts, an increase from the previous quarter of 13 million. TikTok aims to remove accounts that "that seek to mislead people or use TikTok to deceptively sway public opinion."

Account removal is on the rise. Credit: TikTok

Today's data also indicated that only .7 percent of the videos removed this quarter were removed because of "integrity and authenticity" — the category that includes harmful misinformation — and "spam and fake account engagement."

Even though TikTok claims to be stepping up to fight misinformation, they said that last year, too. So what is actually being done to help its users distinguish credible information from disinformation?