TikTok, a short video sharing platform, recently declared that, as part of its current state media policy, it will begin placing labels on state-run media stations.
Given the present war situation between Russia and Ukraine, TikTok indicated in a blog post that it is expediting its plans for piloting the strategy. The corporation has been working on the policies since last year and will begin distributing labels in the coming days.
We started working on an uniform and comprehensive state media policy last year because we believe that providing additional context to viewers can be beneficial, especially during times of war and in conflict zones. As a result of the conflict in Ukraine, we’re speeding up the implementation of our state media policy, which will provide viewers with context for evaluating the information they consume on our platform. Over the next few days, we’ll start testing our approach by putting labels to content from some state-controlled media accounts.
Advertisement
The marks will be displayed worldwide and will apply to a small number of Russian state media accounts. TikTok, on the other hand, did not indicate which accounts were affected.
TikTok also intends to counteract misinformation with the current version, stating:
We’re continuing to beef up our safety and security measures and working hard to guarantee that people can express themselves and share their stories while also minimising the risk of danger.
Many social media platforms have already taken steps against Russian-controlled media, such as RT and Sputnik, in the wake of the increasing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with Facebook and Twitter limiting their material in Europe and Reddit deleting connections to the sites.
Russia has stated that it will block Facebook in retaliation, stating that the site is responsible for “discrimination against Russian media and information resources.” Russian authorities have also contacted TikTok, inquiring as to why some of their stories have been removed.