TikTok has revealed it deleted over 49 million videos that violated its rules between July and December 2019.
According to the company’s transparency report, close to a quarter of the videos deleted contained adult nudity or sexual activity, the business.
The US has suggested it is “looking at” whether to ban the Chinese-owned app.
The US secretary of State Mike Pompeo had on Monday suggested that downloading TikTok would put citizens’ “private information in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party”.
He said, “We are taking this very seriously. We are certainly looking at it.”
The government in India has already banned the app, citing cyber-security concerns.
TikTok is owned by Chinese firm ByteDance. The app is not available in China, but ByteDance operates a similar app, called Douyin, which is available.
The company has also refuted claims that it got data requests from China or any requests from the Chinese government to delete content.
The Wall Street Journal published a report on Monday suggested the business was thinking about setting up a new headquarters, outside of China.
TikTok told the BBC in a statement: “As we consider the best path forward, ByteDance is evaluating changes to the corporate structure of its TikTok business. We remain fully committed to protecting our users’ privacy and security as we build a platform that inspires creativity and brings joy for hundreds of millions of people around the world.”
The US government is currently scrutinizing TikTok to check if it actually complied with a 2019 agreement aimed at protecting the privacy of under-13s.
The app says it offers a limited app experience, with additional safety and privacy features for under-13s.
According to TikTok’s transparency report:
- 25.5% of the deleted videos contained adult nudity or sexual acts
- 24.8% broke its child-protection policies, such as implicating a child in a crime or containing harmful imitative behaviour
- 21.5% showed illegal activities or “regulated goods”
- 3% were removed for harassment or bullying
- Less than 1% were removed for hate speech or “inauthentic behaviour”
TikTok’s transparency report also revealed:
- The 49 million deleted videos represented less than 1% of videos uploaded between July and December 2019
- 98.2% of the deleted videos were spotted by machine learning or moderators before being reported by users
