TikTok updating policies for political accounts after report of rampant misinformation

TikTok on Wednesday announced new policies for political accounts after a report last week found rampant misinformation on the social media platform.

Blake Chandlee, the president of global business solutions for TikTok, wrote in a blog post that the platform will begin testing out a mandatory verification system for accounts connected to governments, politicians and political parties throughout the midterm elections. Currently, verification badges are optional.

TikTok will also prohibit campaign fundraising on the app and will seek to further limit the monetization of political accounts by barring them from accessing financial features such as gifting, tipping and e-commerce.

Political accounts will also be ineligible from accessing the Creator Fund, which rewards popular TikTok creators with funding.

Chandlee noted that political advertising is already banned on TikTok, adding that the social media platform is “working to keep harmful misinformation off the platform.”

“We want to continue to develop policies that foster and promote a positive environment that brings people together, not divide them,” Chandlee wrote in his blog post. “Today, we are building on that approach by making a series of changes to government, politician, and political party accounts that we believe will help ensure TikTok remains a fun, positive and joyful experience.”

A report last week from NewsGuard found nearly one in five of the videos automatically suggested by TikTok contain misinformation.

TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, is the second most popular domain in the world after Google.