In its latest Community Guidelines Enforcement report, the popular short-form video platform TikTok revealed that it deleted over 1.7 million videos uploaded by Nigerian users during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023.
Nigeria was listed as one of the top 50 countries whose video content was found to be in violation of TikTok’s policies during the reporting period. Globally, the platform removed a staggering 176.5 million videos over the three-month span.
According to the report, the deleted Nigerian videos were found to breach TikTok’s standards on safety, civility, mental/behavioral health, privacy, security, integrity and authenticity. The platform also removed 169 million fraudulent or spam accounts worldwide during Q4 2023.
Alongside the video deletions, TikTok said it had taken down 1.03 billion “inauthentic” likes, 4.9 billion fake follow requests, and 720 million false followers. These engagements were deemed to have originated from “automated or inauthentic mechanisms” rather than genuine user activity.
The platform attributed the metrics fluctuations to its ongoing efforts to detect and remove external threats, bots and other malicious actors seeking to artificially inflate their presence on TikTok.
“We remain vigilant in our efforts to detect external threats and safeguard the platform from fake accounts and engagement,” the company stated. “These threats persistently probe and attack our systems, leading to occasional fluctuations in the reported metrics within these areas.”
The report also revealed that TikTok saw an increase in the number of ads removed for policy violations during Q4 2023, up from 1.3 million in the prior quarter to over 1.5 million. The platform said it is continually working to strengthen its ad review systems and uphold strict advertising guidelines.
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