Sept 21 (Reuters) – TikTok will begin requiring accounts belonging to U.S. government departments, politicians and political parties to be verified and will ban videos aimed at campaign fundraising, the short-form video app said on Wednesday.
The move comes as TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, and other social media platforms are working to clamp down on political misinformation ahead of the U.S. midterm elections in November, after years of being criticized for allowing such content to flourish on their services.
Political accounts can submit a request for verification, TikTok said, and the company will also work to confirm the authenticity of profiles it believes belong to politicians or political parties.
A verified account, indicated by a blue check mark on TikTok and other platforms like Twitter, means the platform has confirmed the ownership of the account.
TikTok has long faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers, who have questioned the Chinese-owned app's safeguards of user data. read more The app has also sought to preserve its image as a place for dance videos and comedy skits, and has banned political advertising since 2019.
To help enforce the ban, accounts belonging to politicians and parties will automatically be prevented from accessing advertising features, TikTok said in a blog post.
TikTok said it will update its policies to prohibit campaign fundraising. Content that will be banned under the new policy includes videos from politicians soliciting donations or political parties directing users to make a donation on their website.
The accounts will also be prohibited from using money-making features available to influencers on the app, like digital payments and gifting.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Mitch McConnell voiced qualified support for a bipartisan Senate bill to clarify Congress' role in certifying presidential election results, calling it the only chance to prevent future chaos like the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault.
Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world’s largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. Reuters provides business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers.
Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology.
The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs.
The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals.
Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile.
Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts.
Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks.
All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays.
© 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved