By Julie de Bailliencourt, Global Head of Product Policy, TikTok

TikTok takes an uncompromising stance against enabling violent extremism on or off our platform. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy to people, and any attempt to promote violence runs counter to that mission and our values. To further strengthen our commitment to user safety and human rights, today we're announcing our membership with Tech Against Terrorism and bringing more transparency to the steps we take to protect our community from violent extremism.

Standing together against violent extremism

At TikTok, we believe that collaboration is critical to solving today's most pressing challenges, including violent extremism. We are proud to be members of Tech Against Terrorism, which brings together technology companies, civil society, and academics over the shared goal of countering violent extremism. Coming together with others in the industry reflects our desire to engage with the wider community of experts in a responsible way. Our aim is to help eradicate terrorist content online and share learnings with others along the way.

Joining Tech Against Terrorism means we've earned their Trustmark, proof that we adhere to membership requirements, which include commitments to exploring new technical solutions and working with civil society on combating violent extremism. The Trustmark also demonstrates our strict policies and enforcement against violent extremism and our commitments to human rights and transparency. For instance, we publish regular Community Guidelines Enforcement Reports that bring visibility to the content and accounts removed for violating our policies. And we recently announced plans to provide researchers with API access to study the TikTok platform and moderation system.

There's no finish line when it comes to keeping people safe. Through our membership, we're eager to continue to learn from others as we strive to meet and exceed best practices in tackling this issue. It will also provide access to training and detection resources to help us effectively respond to such content and actors.

TikTok's zero-tolerance approach to violent extremism

TikTok maintains a zero-tolerance policy on violent extremism. Individuals or groups that threaten violence or attempt to incite violence risk the safety of our community. Our Community Guidelines clearly outline that we do not allow people to use our platform to threaten or incite violence, or to promote violent extremist organizations, individuals, or acts.

We use a combination of technology, safety and security professionals, and threat detection partners to help us enforce our policies. If an account attempts to promote or glorify off-platform violence or threaten public safety, we ban the account. When warranted, we will report threats to relevant legal authorities. We may consider off-platform behavior to identify violent extremist organizations and individuals and take action on their accounts.

In addition, our trust and safety teams partner with local experts and civil society organizations to understand the unique cultures and experiences of communities affected by violent extremism. We take into account publicly available information from experts, including the United Nations Security Council and Southern Poverty Law Center, to designate dangerous or hateful individuals and organizations. Our goal is to prevent our platform from being used to perpetrate harm.

TikTok is an entertainment-first platform, and today only a small portion of videos - less than 1% of the total removed - violate our violent extremism policy. Nevertheless, we will continue to work towards doing our part to help eradicate this kind of content online and off.