MANILA - Social media platform TikTok on Thursday said it has removed 3.8 million videos from its platform in the Philippines due to various violations in the third quarter of 2023 due to violations of community guidelines.

Toff Rada, Philippines Public Policy Head of TikTok, said violations of their Community Guidelines include videos that may have violence, hateful behavior, illegal activities, harassment and bullying and self-harm, among many others.

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Videos that show misinformation or disinformation are also considered violations of the guidelines. Videos are removed either proactively by TikTok or if a video was reported by viewers.

“Online safety is always a shared responsibility. On the part of the platform, our responsibility is to take down violative pieces of content at the soonest possible time. At the same time, we encourage our users if they see violative pieces of content still on the platform, please report them.,” he said.

Rada added that majority of the video removals were done right after a video was posted. He explained that they have 40,000 content moderation team members who monitor and check videos posted by users worldwide. And this team includes Filipinos.

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“We also have local speaking moderators so we understand what is being said and what the context of what is being said in their respective videos,” he said.

Content creator Mona Magno-Veluz, known as ‘Mighty Magulang’ on TikTok is the only Filipino in the TikTok Safety Advisory Council. She said content creators should create positive content and must ensure their videos do not go against any policy. She also encouraged fellow creators to be truthful in the videos they published.

“Safety is an issue. And in our experience, there is of course misinformation and disinformation, there are also dangers that can transcend the digital space and affect us in real life,” she said on why there is a need to discuss safety issues online.

Magno-Veluz also advised parents to make sure their children use social media sites properly. “If you have smaller children, don’t give them too much screen time. If you have older children, have conversations with them so that their experience online will be positive and you’ll be able to guide them.”

Several other social media platforms like Meta and YouTube have also beefed up safety usage for its users, especially for children. TikTok, for example, now has a family pairing feature where parents can link their account to their minor children’s account to monitor what they watch.

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