TikTok- Safety Center with policies, tools and online resources available in major languages including Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Malayalam and Punjabi starting today
- As part of its commitment to online safety, TikTok also launches resource pages tackling Anti-Bullying as well as an advisory for the upcoming General Elections
India, 27th March 2019: TikTok, the world's leading short video platform, today launches the localised version of its Safety Center, a localized website that consists of safety policies, tools and resources to equip users with product education and protection measures when using TikTok. The Safety Center is available in ten major Indian languages and apart from guidelines, it also links out to two resource pages tackling Anti-Bullying as well as an advisory for the upcoming General Elections.
“Since the launch of TikTok in India, we have seen phenomenal user growth. Along with this growth, we also recognize the need to continuously equip our users with guidelines that would help them use TikTok in a safe and responsible way. With the launch of our localised Safety Center along with our resource pages for Anti-Bullying and the General Elections, we aim to reaffirm our commitment to India and ensure a safe and positive online environment,” said Helena Lersch, Director, Global Public Policy, TikTok.
Safety Center launched in major Indian languages
To ensure that TikTok’s growing community, in a diverse country such as India, can read its policies and access tools and resources in its own language, TikTok has launched the Safety Center in ten major local languages - Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Oriya.
With the launch of this localised website, users across India can better understand various online safety settings and features to keep their accounts safe in their own language. They can also learn how to choose to keep their accounts private, as the website emphasises the need to use strong passwords and avoid the use of personal information. Additionally, users can learn how to enable the Restricted Mode that allows users to restrict content that might not be age-appropriate or even enable the Digital Wellness feature which limits the number of screen hours. To ensure they enjoy their TikTok experience, users can also read up on how to report, flag, block and delete comments.
Anti-Bullying resource page – a proactive step in TikTok’s ongoing commitment to safety
In today’s online world, bullying takes place in multiple forms, from a trolling video to an unwanted comment. Ensuring TikTok users feels safe and comfortable within the TikTok community, the Anti-Bullying resource page empowers them to take control of their TikTok experience by placing further restrictions on content and community interactions. Besides settings such as making the account private, users can decide with whom a user can make duets with, delete comments or control who can comment on a video. Users can also report a bully, delete a fan or permanently block another user.
The page also encourages users to support anyone being bullied by reporting it on TikTok, as the platform can further address these cases, coordinating with the authorities where needed.
General Elections resource page – TikTok encourages users to be a better online citizen
In the run up to the upcoming General Elections, TikTok encourages its users to use the TikTok and any social media platform in a respectful and responsible manner by not uploading or sharing any illegal content on all social media platforms, including TikTok.
The General Elections resource page guides users to visit eci.gov.in to read the Model Code of Conduct by the Election Commission of India (ECI) along with other resources. It also encourages users to be responsible citizens during this time by reporting any objectionable content through ECI’s cVIGIL app, allowing for appropriate action to be taken.
TikTok’s continued safety efforts in India
TikTok, as a platform celebrates trends and embraces diversity, it has become the preferred platform for expression, given its lowered boundaries for sharing, creating, discovering — all made easy on the mobile.
As it fosters a global community that thrives on creativity and expression, TikTok is committed to helping make its millions of users feel safe and comfortable within the community, which is why it is continuously enhancing and updating its policies, tools and resources to promote a positive and safe app environment. With the launch of the Safety Center and resource pages tackling Anti-Bullying and the upcoming General Elections, TikTok takes another step towards making users safe on the platform.
The launch of the Safety Center in India comes after TikTok’s #SafeHumSafeInternet campaign in partnership with the Cyber Peace Foundation, which saw the launch of educational posters on online safety distributed amongst schools and colleges nationwide.
TikTok also recently launched its comments filter feature to helps users prevent predatory, hateful, and obscene comments from appearing on their videos. The feature lets users self-define keywords in English and Hindi that they would like to automatically filter out of unwelcome wording from their comment section. Users can add as many as 30 words and change the words according to their preference or when they feel necessary.
Promoting a safe and positive app environment is TikTok’s top priority, and it has a number of measures in place today to protect against misuse. These include privacy settings, filters, in-app reporting, and moderation. For more information about TikTok’s safety efforts, please visit: https://www.TikTok.com/safety/.
###
About TikTok
TikTok is the world's leading destination for short-form mobile videos. Our mission is to capture and present the world's creativity, knowledge and moments that matter in everyday life. TikTok empowers everyone to be a creator directly from their smartphones and is committed to building a community by encouraging users to share their passion and creative expression through their videos. TikTok has offices in Beijing, Berlin, Jakarta, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo. In early 2018, TikTok was one of the most downloaded apps in the world. TikTok is available worldwide for iOS and Android. Visit www.tiktok.com.
