“People on our app value authentic content, and we do too – which is why our teams work diligently to uphold our Community Guidelines and keep misleading, harmful, or deceptive content and accounts off TikTok. To strengthen these efforts, we're announcing three new measures to combat misinformation, disinformation, and other content that may be designed to disrupt the 2020 election”, TikTok’s US general manager Vanessa Pappas said in a company blog post.
According to Pappas, TikTok will update its policies to give users greater clarity on what is allowed on the platform. The application will also broaden its fact-checking partnerships and work with experts from the US Department of Homeland Security to protect against “foreign interference".
The WhatsApp messaging client announced on Tuesday that a new fact-checking service would be rolled out in a handful of countries, including the United States, to combat the spread of disinformation.
US President Donald Trump has targeted TikTok over its Chinese ownership. On Monday, the president said that he has set a deadline of 15 September for the application to be bought by US owners. Should this deadline pass, Trump has pledged to ban the app in the United States.