As midterm elections approach and more political campaigns rush to engage a fresh voter demographic with the help of video-sharing app TikTok, the company Wednesday has announced a policy update that limits government, politician and political party accounts from accessing monetization tools on the app.
TikTok has prohibited political advertising on the platform for some time. But this new change looks to push those hoping to use it to further political goals further out of the spotlight.
"We want to continue to develop policies that foster and promote a positive environment that brings people together, not divide them," said TikTok in a statement. "We do that currently by working to keep harmful misinformation off the platform, prohibiting political advertising, and connecting our community with authoritative information about elections."
Alongside prohibiting paid-for political adverts, TikTok's new policy change moves to restrict certain accounts from accessing monetization features including gifting, tipping, and e-commerce.
TikTok said: "We recognize that there will be occasions where governments may need access to our ads services, such as to support public health and safety and access to information, like advertising Covid-19 booster campaigns. We will continue to allow government organizations to advertise in limited circumstances, and they will be required to be working with a TikTok representative."
With 1.2 billion current monthly users, the video-sharing app is available in 154 countries and has generated $4.6 billion in revenue in 2021.
Despite a worldwide reach, 10 percent of TikTok's current user base resides in the U.S. While older generations continue to focus on older platforms like Facebook and Twitter, younger people appear to stick to the video-sharing site almost exclusively.
According to a Pew Research Center survey from last month, about 67 percent of American teens say they use TikTok compared to just 32 percent who say they use Facebook—making it the perfect tool for reaching an audience that may not be available in other parts of the internet.
Political campaigns on both sides continue to utilize TikTok to reach audiences, encouraging people to vote and sharing their campaigns organically with followers.
TikTok's policy changes mean that accounts belonging to governments, politicians or political parties will largely not be able to give or receive money through the app, while the existing ban on political advertising means they cannot spend money to promote content either.
The app also announced a change that would prevent campaign fundraising through TikTok. The statement explained: "Over the coming weeks, we'll also be changing our policies to disallow solicitation for campaign fundraising. That includes content such as a video from a politician asking for donations, or a political party directing people to a donation page on their website."
TikTok explained the new action and said: "By prohibiting campaign fundraising and limiting access to our monetization features, we're aiming to strike a balance between enabling people to discuss the issues that are relevant to their lives while also protecting the creative, entertaining platform that our community wants."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Alice Gibbs is a Newsweek Senior Internet Trends & Culture Reporter based in the U.K. For the last two years ... Read more
