By Julie de Bailliencourt, Head of Product Policy

Over the last year, alongside others in our industry and representatives from civil society, we have collaborated with the Web Foundation, an international organisation advocating for digital equality, to better understand the experiences that women have online and how to make them safer.

As a result, today, we're proud to announce our commitment to address two priorities women have said are critical for their online safety: improved reporting systems and more control over their online experiences.

Over the coming months, we'll begin to develop and test a number of potential product changes to our platform that address these priorities and help make TikTok an ever safer place for women.

Keeping our community safe

At TikTok, we work round the clock to help ensure our platform is a safe, positive space for self-expression. Our platform thrives on the diversity of our community, and we believe that safety is a prerequisite for creativity. Everything we do is about fostering an environment where people feel welcomed, empowered, and safe to express themselves exactly as they are.

Our online safety strategy has multiple aspects. We enforce our Community Guidelines using both technology and thousands of safety professionals around the world. We develop pioneering safety policies and features, and we partner with external safety experts to keep abreast of complex and constantly evolving challenges.

While we continue to invest in cutting-edge technologies and industry-leading safety teams, we also work to ensure our community feel in control of their TikTok experience. Here are just a few examples on how to stay safe on TikTok:

  • In control of comments: Our community can restrict who comments on their videos to no one, just friends or everyone (for those aged under 16, we don't offer the Everyone setting). Users can choose to filter all comments, so they can decide which comments will appear on their videos. When enabled, comments aren't displayed unless the video's creator approves them using the new comment management tool. People can also choose to filter comments containing specific keywords they have selected. Multiple comments can be deleted or reported at once, and accounts that post bullying or other negative comments can be blocked in bulk, too, up to 100 at a time. By default, spam and offensive comments are hidden from users when we detect them.
  • Promote kindness: A prompt asks people to reconsider the impact of their words before posting a comment that may be inappropriate or unkind and reminds users to review our Community Guidelines.
  • Report inappropriate content and behaviour: Reporting is fast, easy and confidential on TikTok. If a user sees something - whether it's a video, a comment, a direct message or an account - they don't think should be on TikTok, they can use the in-app reporting button to let us know. We will review against our Community Guidelines and take appropriate action.

We look forward to sharing more on our progress to deliver on our commitment to improve online safety for women in the coming months. In the meantime, you can find out more about how to stay safe on TikTok at our Safety Centre.