TikTok adds "suspicious" video warning labels to prevent the spread of harmful information

TikTok officially announced on February 3 that it will first launch new video warning labels in the United States and Canada to reduce users' forwarding and sharing of unverified content , thereby purifying the TikTok community environment. This initiative will be promoted globally in the coming weeks.

After several serious public relations crises , TikTok has resolutely joined the fight to limit the spread of misinformation online. It is understood that TikTok has deleted the original video content containing false information on the platform and has established partnerships with fact-checking websites such as PolitiFact , Lead Stories and SciVerify to help TikTok screen and review video content.

TikTok 's new "suspicious" video warning prompts will appear in the following different situations:

First, when TikTok users watch unverified short videos , they will receive a prompt like "Warning: This video is marked as unverified content";

Secondly, unverified video content creators will also be notified and have warning labels added to their videos, along with detailed information about the unverified content;

Finally, when users want to share this suspicious video with others , they will also receive a pop-up window as shown in the picture above, asking users "Are you sure you want to share this video?" Users can also check the "Cancel" or "Share anyway" options below the question.

Coincidentally, this feature of TikTok is somewhat similar to the prompt that Twitter added in June 2020 that automatically pops up when users forward content that they have not actually read.

( Twitter retweet prompt )

Twitter said that the "friction" created by this prompt has a good effect on increasing the opening rate and completion rate of articles and limiting the spread of misinformation. The opening rate of articles on the platform by Twitter users has increased by 40%.

TikTok 's user base in overseas markets has grown rapidly in recent years. Some organizations predict that its user base will reach 1 billion in 2021. Therefore, certain inflammatory information will easily spread around the world with the help of TikTok . TikTok's move at this time can not only help maintain the integrity of the online world, but also avoid some minefields for its long-term development.

In fact, TikTok is also satisfied with the effect of this measure. Gina Hernandez, TikTok 's trust and safety product manager , wrote in a blog post: " During testing, this content warning prompt reduced the probability of users sharing videos by 24% and reduced the user's like rate for unverified content by 7%. "

It seems that sellers who are currently using or planning to use TikTok to attract traffic should pay more attention to whether the short video content is compliant and has undergone effective review, so as not to damage the dissemination efficiency of the video content and thus affect product sales.

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