TikTok: first measures against harassment and bullying of minors

After the recent tragic episodes that have seen protagonists, and sometimes even victims, Some minor the Chinese social network TikTok takes the first steps to restore order and limit bullying and harassment. No news, however, regarding an effective control over the age of members and the very dangerous "challenge".

The news, in fact, at the moment only concern the comment management. Indeed, through the comments bullying and harassment they spread on social networks and on the Web. In other words: the hatred that poisons our online life often lurks in the comments. TikTok's answer, therefore, lies in the possibility of filter the comments received (both manually and automatically) and in an additional filter that warns users before commenting if the comment contains words that could violate TikTok guidelines. The social media claims that these two measures will serve to "Create a safe and positive environment on our platform that allows free creative expression", but it is clear that this is only a small step in a very long road.

TikTok: the filter for comments received

With the new “Filter all comments” feature, also coming to the cittàn TikTok app, users can decide which comments to show under their short videos. If the filter is activated, no comments are shown below the videos, unless the video creator approves them one by one.

If the comment is not approved it will be deleted and there will be no way to recover it. Instead, there was already an automatic filter against spam and offensive messages, and one calibrated on specific keywords that the creator can choose personally.

TikTok: "Think about it ..."

La second novelty it is instead the responsibility of the commenter: if the algorithm detects the presence in the text of the message of offensive words, or that could violate the rules of the TikTok community, a message will be shown: "Do you want to think again before publishing it?".

The choices, for the commentator, will therefore be two: "Publish anyway" and "Edit". In practice, anyone can continue to comment in an offensive way, but TikTok will kindly ask him to reconsider. The only bulwark to the waves of organized negative comments (an increasingly frequent phenomenon on social networks, including TikTok) will therefore be the filter applied by the creator of the video.

He will then have the arduous and tiring task of skimming all the comments received one by one, saving only the polite ones.

TikTok: first measures against harassment and bullying of minors